DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Olympic Games 2012

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which events at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were attended by each Minister in his Office using tickets or passes for which they did not pay personally; and what the cost was of attending each such event for members of the public who used comparable seats or had comparable access.

Nicholas Clegg: The Government pledged to publish these details following the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will do so shortly.

Redundancy

Michael Weir: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  how many Civil Service posts have been made redundant by his Department in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of redundancies in each such year;
	(2)  how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year.

Nicholas Clegg: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, the right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), on 8 January 2013, Official Report, column 194W.

TRANSPORT

Employment Agencies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total spending on recruitment agencies by his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport uses the Government Procurement Services, Buying Solutions contract to obtain temporary staff from recruitment agencies. The Department's monthly expenditure on all types of temporary staff is published monthly at:
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/dft-workforce-management-information

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many purchases of properties accepted onto the HS2 Exceptional Hardship Scheme have been completed.

Simon Burns: This information is published regularly on:
	http://www.hs2.org.uk/property
	As of 1 January 2013 the number stood at 65.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many valuations of properties accepted onto the HS2 Exceptional Hardship Scheme are (a) in dispute and (b) have been disputed.

Simon Burns: This information is not regularly collated and so is not readily available. HS2 and Department for Transport officials are now working to collate all cases where applicants have disputed the offer price. As soon as this has been done I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many offers to buy a property accepted onto the HS2 Exceptional Hardship Scheme have been turned down.

Simon Burns: To date there have been two cases where home-owners have turned down an offer to buy a property accepted under the HS2 Exceptional Hardship Scheme. In one case the Government had specified the purchase price, in the other the offer to buy was declined before valuations were undertaken.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many properties have been accepted onto the Exceptional Hardship Scheme since the scheme began.

Simon Burns: This information is published regularly on:
	http://www.hs2.org.uk/property
	As of 1 January 2013 the number stood at 100.

M6

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the current status is of the proposed M6 link road into Heysham; and when he expects work on that road to begin and to be completed;
	(2)  if he will introduce an access only provision to the new slip road to be built in the reconfiguration of Junction 34 on the M6 through to Halton.

Simon Burns: The design and operation of the revised M6 junction 34, including the proposed Halton Link Road, was examined as part of Lancashire county council's application for development consent for the Heysham to M6 Link scheme. The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), received the examining authority's report on this scheme last month and we are considering carefully his conclusions and recommendation. Under the Planning Act 2008 we are under a duty to decide the application by 19 March 2013. Subject to the successful completion of all remaining statutory procedures and procurement, Lancashire county council estimate the construction will start in July 2013 and that the scheme will open in December 2015.

Olympic Games 2012

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which events at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were attended by each Minister in his Department using tickets or passes for which they did not pay personally; and what the cost was of attending each such event for members of the public who used comparable seats or had comparable access.

Norman Baker: The Government pledged to publish these details following the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will do so shortly.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many procurement officers are currently employed by his Department;
	(2)  how many civil servants in his Department regularly deal with procurement services;
	(3)  how many procurement officers in his Department have relevant procurement qualifications.

Norman Baker: As at 30th November 2012 there are 45 procurement officers employed by the central Department for Transport. Of these, 19 have a full procurement qualification and 8 have a partial procurement qualification.
	The Department undertakes a wide range of both large and small scale procurement and has many additional staff who are permitted to undertake procurement within Departmental guidance.

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total amount of redundancy pay paid to civil servants in his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Norman Baker: The total redundancy payments made in each month from July to December 2012 for the Department for Transport, including its executive agencies (Driving Standards Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, Vehicle Certification Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Highways Agency and Government Car and Despatch Agency) are:
	
		
			 Month Cost of redundancy payments (£) 
			 July 71,573 
			 August 539,082 
			 September 400,515 
			 October 545,448 
			 November 172,552 
			 December 321,054

Temporary Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what amount his Department spent on interim staff as defined by the National Audit Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Baker: In 2010-2011 the Department and its then seven executive agencies spent £16,605,053 on contingent labour, agency (clerical and admin) staff, interim managers and specialist contractors. In 201-2012 the Department and its then seven executive agencies spent £10,717,859.

Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many temporary staff have been recruited in his Department in each month from July to December 2012.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport has recruited a total of 98 temporary staff in the period July to December 2012. The Department averaged 17,550 permanent staff in this period, so these temporary recruits represent under 0.6% of the Department's permanent workforce.
	The monthly breakdown of recruitment is:
	July 2012: 30
	August 2012: 22
	September 2012: 12
	October 2012: 14
	November 2012:13
	December2012: 7

HOME DEPARTMENT

Children: Sexual Abuse

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 11 July 2012, Official Report, column 223W, on the Council of Europe convention on the protection of hildren against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, what progress her Department has made in its discussions with other Government Departments on the ratification and implementation of that Convention.

Jeremy Browne: Child sexual exploitation is an appalling crime. It is a form of child sexual abuse and tackling it remains an absolute priority for the Government.
	The UK signed the Council of Europe's convention on the protection of children from sexual exploitation and abuse in May 2008. Ratification is not a straightforward process, but officials across a number of Government Departments have been considering the steps that would be required to ratify and implement the convention. Those discussions are continuing.

Communications Data Bill (Draft)

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs of 18 December 2012, Official Report, column 727W, on Communications Data Bill (Draft), how many representations she has received on the Draft Communications Data Bill; from which UK and international businesses she has received such representations; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The Draft Communications Data Bill was published on 14 June 2012 and has been undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of both Houses, and the Intelligence and Security Committee since that point. The Committees reported on 11 December 2012.
	Throughout this process, the Home Office has received representations from the Committees as well as a wide range of interested parties, including parliamentarians, the communications industry, law enforcement, civil liberties organisations and members of the public.
	We have an ongoing relationship with both UK and overseas-based communications service providers. There has been a number of recent meetings at both ministerial and official level. As per the practice of previous Governments, we do not comment on our relationships with individual providers for reasons of national security and commercial sensitivity.

Community Policing

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the neighbourhood policing fund budget was in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.

Damian Green: The Neighbourhood Policing Fund budget (NPF) in:
	(a) 2010-11 was £341,000,000
	(b) 2011-12 was £340,000,000
	(c) 2012-13 was £338,000,000

Drugs: Misuse

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the number of drug dealers operating in England and Wales; and if she will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: This information is not collected centrally.

Entry Clearances

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate income to be received in 2013 as a result of visa applications by Belarusian and Ukrainian children.

Mark Harper: We are unable to predict the estimated income to be received in 2013 as a result of visa applications by Belarusian and Ukrainian children. Estimates of forecasted numbers of applications for 2013 are not available.
	The available information published relates to entry clearance visas granted given in the following total:
	Total number of applications for entry clearance visas issued to Belarusian and Ukrainian children in all categories in 2012: 846
	Information on entry clearance visas by nationality is published as part of the quarterly Immigration Statistics, available from the Library of the House and at the Department's website:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/research-statistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Missing Persons

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the evaluation of the Association of Chief Police Officers' pilots of the revised definitions of missing and absent will be published; and whether it will include an assessment of the risks related to children categorised as absent.

Jeremy Browne: holding answer 18 December 2012
	The evaluation of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) pilot is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.
	The aim of the pilots is to better protect children and vulnerable adults through a more proportionate and risk-based approach to the management of missing incidents, by better targeting of the initial police response. The evaluation examines whether the pilots have achieved these aims and includes an assessment of whether the approach has had any adverse impact on a police force ability to manage risk in the absence category, which includes both children and adults.

Police

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers and (b) police community support officers have been employed (i) by Northumbria Police Authority, (ii) in South Tyneside, (iii) in the North East and (iv) in the UK in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: The number of police officers and police community support officers employed by Northumbria police, South Tyneside, North East and England and Wales, as at 31 March 2008 to 2012 (full-time equivalent), can be seen in the following table. Figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the Devolved Administrations.
	Figures at basic command unit level ceased to be collected centrally by the Home Office from 2011-12.
	
		
			 Number of police officers and police community support officers employed by Northumbria Police, South Tyneside, North East and England and Wales as at 31 March 2008 to 2012(1, 2, 3) 
			  Police officers Police community support officers 
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Northumbria Police 3,983 4,111 4,187 4,102 3,921 254 259 438 433 424 
			 South Tyneside 341 357 326 319 — 24 27 37 45 — 
			 North East 7,307 7,455 7,419 7,189 6,813 585 628 806 785 765 
			 England and Wales 141,859 143,770 143,734 139,110 134,101 15,805 16,507 16,918 15,820 14,393 
			 1. This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. Figures at basic command unit level (South Tyneside) ceased to be collected from 2011-12. 3. The number of police officers and police community support officers within the North East is made up of Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria police forces.

Police: Electronic Equipment

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will publish the guidelines issued to police forces in England and Wales for the use of long-range acoustic devices.

Damian Green: Long-range acoustic devices are not currently approved for use by police in England and Wales.

Police: Freedom of Expression

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy on freedom of speech for employees of police services who are opposed to same sex marriage of the case between Mr Adrian Smith and Trafford Housing Trust.

Damian Green: I have not made any assessment of the effect of this case, which was about the contractual relationship between an employee and his employer, involving the use of social media.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Early Intervention Grant

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the Local Government Finance Settlement 2013-14, how much each local authority will receive in lieu of the Early Intervention Grant in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15; and what the comparable allocation was in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12 and (iv) 2012-13.

Brandon Lewis: Details of the full provisional Local Government Finance settlement for 2013-14 are currently out for consultation and are available at:
	www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1314/settle.htm
	The table at the following link gives details of Early Intervention Grant in the Start Up Funding Assessment in 2013-14:
	www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1314/1314SUFAbreak.xls
	The Early Intervention Grant was introduced in 2011-12 and details of allocations of Early Intervention Grant for 2011 -12 and 2012-13 can be found at:
	www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1112/specgrant1112/index.htm
	www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1112/specgrant1213/index.htm

Equality

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on equality impact assessments since May 2010; and under what cost headings such funds were spent.

Brandon Lewis: Such a retrospective estimate could only be calculated at disproportionate cost.
	Notwithstanding that, the Government Equalities Office has now given clear guidance to Whitehall departments that equality impact assessments are not a legal requirement; they are resource intensive and take staff away from planning and delivering important public services
	I recently wrote to local authorities on the same theme. The letter can be found online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-statutory-burdens-equality-impact-assessments

Families: Disadvantaged

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who has been appointed to the post of troubled families co-ordinator in each local authority area.

Brandon Lewis: Some 143 troubled families co-ordinators have been appointed to date and eight more are expected to be recruited in the near future. A list of the 143 local authorities has been deposited in the Library of the House.

Fire Service College

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the sale of the Fire Service College, whether he has made an estimate of any additional costs which will be borne by fire and rescue authorities as a result of the sale; and whether the commitments made by Capita that the college will continue in use as a national training college for fire and rescue authorities as well as continuing to offer wider national resilience and emergency services exercises are time-limited.

Brandon Lewis: We do not expect there to be any additional costs to be borne by fire and rescue authorities as a result of the sale of the Fire Service College. The commitments made by Capita that the college will continue in use as a national training college for fire and rescue authorities as well as continuing to offer wider national resilience and emergency services exercises are not time-limited.

Fire Service College

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the sale of the Fire Service College, how much is due to be raised as a result of the sale; and whether the proceeds of the sale will be retained and used fully within his Department.

Brandon Lewis: The final consideration will be settled on sale completion and decisions on the use of the sale proceeds will be taken at that time.

Fire Service College

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the annual budget of and expenditure on the Fire Service College was in each of the last 10 years.

Brandon Lewis: The following figures are taken from the Fire Service College's Annual Accounts.
	
		
			 £000 
			  Total income Total operating costs 
			 2011-12 16,879 19,319 
			 2010-11 18,471 22,463 
			 2009-10 21,727 23,757 
			 2008-09 21.579 23,794 
			 2007-08 22,614 23,539 
			 2006-07 22,595 23,351 
			 2005-06 22,380 23,536 
			 2004-05 23,611 23,985 
			 2003-04 19,114 20,833 
			 2002-03 17,578 18,681

Fire Services: Job Satisfaction

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to improve morale amongst firefighters.

Brandon Lewis: Wholetime firefighting jobs are popular and remain in high demand. In London in 2011, there were 8,764 applications for around 150 wholetime firefighter posts. In addition, between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 in England, only 119 wholetime firefighters out of 28,245 (0.42%) resigned to take employment outside of fire and rescue service. The maintenance of morale amongst firefighters is the responsibility of their employers, the individual fire and rescue authority.

Fraud

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) number and (b) cost of instances of fraud in his Department was in each month since May 2010.

Brandon Lewis: There have only been two cases of fraud, both in July 2010 to a total value of £5,105. Monies were fully recovered and therefore there was no loss to the Department.

Local Government: Freedom of Expression

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on freedom of speech for local government staff who are opposed to same sex marriage of the case between Mr Adrian Smith and Trafford Housing Trust.

Brandon Lewis: I refer my hon. Friend to the letter from the then Minister for Housing, the right hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps), of 2 November 2011, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House, and which can be found online at:
	http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2011-1728/DEP2011-1728.pdf
	This outlines my Department's stance on the issue. In essence, we strongly support freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Local Government: Translation Services

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to issue new guidance to local authorities on their expenditure on translation and interpretation services; and if he will make a statement.

Don Foster: Our publication ‘50 ways to save: examples of sensible savings in local government’ makes it clear that there are savings for local taxpayers from stopping translating documents into foreign languages. Publishing documents in English helps promote the integration of local communities.

Olympic Games 2012

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which events at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were attended by each Minister in his Department using tickets or passes for which they did not pay personally; and what the cost was of attending each such event for members of the public who used comparable seats or had comparable access.

Brandon Lewis: The Government pledged to publish these details following the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will do so shortly.

Planning Permission

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of areas identified as developing neighbourhood plans to cover in whole or in part cover one of the (a) 10 per cent, (b) five per cent and (c) one per cent most deprived wards in England.

Nicholas Boles: This information is not centrally collected.

Redundancy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year.

Brandon Lewis: The number of posts declared redundant by the Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies including redundancy costs in each year since 1999 is not held centrally by this Department and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Senior Civil Servants

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the pay of his Department's senior staff has been cut since May 2010.

Brandon Lewis: There has been a freeze on pay for senior staff across the civil service since March 2010, and the Department's pay bill for senior staff has reduced significantly as the numbers of senior staff in the Department has reduced following completion of the Department's restructuring programme in October 2011.
	For comparison purposes, the Department's number of senior staff at the following points was as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 March 2009 132 
			 March 2010 113 
			 March 2011 109 
			 March 2012 90 
		
	
	We have also cut senior civil service bonuses and reformed the civil service pension scheme to require higher employee contributions.
	In addition, Ministers have cut their salaries and then frozen them for the rest of this Parliament.

Staff

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department shares any senior members of its staff with other Government Departments.

Brandon Lewis: Yes. As part of the Department's continued commitment to value for money, it currently shares two senior staff with other Departments—the director for internal audit is shared with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; and the deputy director for property asset management is shared with the Department for Education.
	Sir Bob Kerslake also combines his role as Permanent Secretary of the Department with that of Head of the Civil Service.

Urban Areas

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether all town teams eligible for town team partner funding applied for such funding; and whether those town teams constituted after the deadline for applications for such funding are able to access such funds.

Mark Prisk: Some 336 town teams out of a potential 393 registered, to become a town team partner and now have access to the support package we have provided, which includes £10,000 for each town team to help deliver their proposals. Only town teams who were unsuccessful in the Portas Pilot competition were eligible to apply to become town team partners.

Video Conferencing

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on how many occasions his Department has used video conferencing since May 2010; and what the (a) purpose and (b) cost was of each such occasion.

Brandon Lewis: DCLG's new centrally managed video-conferencing service was fully implemented in September 2012.
	The Department does not record the purpose of each meeting individually but calls were exclusively for business purposes including training. In the last quarter alone (September to December 2012), 251 video conferencing calls were made of which 84 were incoming for which there is no charge. Of the 167 outgoing calls made 165 were within DCLG's inclusive call tariff and the two remaining external calls totalled around two minutes in duration at a total cost of 12p.
	We do not have detailed records of calls prior to September 2012.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities 
	(1)  how many procurement officers are currently employed by her Department;
	(2)  how many civil servants in her Department regularly deal with procurement services;
	(3)  how many procurement officers in her Department have relevant procurement qualifications.

Maria Miller: Since 4 September 2012 responsibility for the Government Equalities Office, formerly within the Home Office, moved to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Responses to these questions by DCMS will therefore include the information requested relating to the Government Equalities Office.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the economic benefit to each English region of (a) the UK film industry, (b) the UK music industry and (c) the UK design industry in each of the last five years.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has not made any estimate of the economic benefit to each English region of the film, music and design industries over the last five years and has no plans to do so. However, DCMS publishes the Creative Industries Economic Estimates on an annual basis which contain data on the overall economic impact of the creative industries by sector for the UK and on the number of creative enterprises and local units by region since 2009.

Arts

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of employees in the UK (a) film, (b) music, (c) design, (d) arts, (e) tourism and (f) heritage industries are university graduates.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) does not hold records of the proportion of employees that are university graduates in the industries requested. However, we are aware that independent organisations monitor and report on the skills levels within their sectors. For example, the Sector Skills Councils, and the Office for National Statistics record data on employment by industry and qualification via the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Deloitte

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department paid to Deloitte for consultancy services in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Hugh Robertson: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has paid £52,474.54 to Deloitte for consultancy services in 2010 but has not paid them anything in either 2011 or 2012.

Mobile Phones

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent progress has been made with the Mobile Infrastructure Project; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The Mobile Infrastructure Project has now secured EU state aid clearance and the Department is continuing to work constructively with the mobile network operators to enable delivery of the project.

Mobile Phones

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will consider the merits of reviewing levels of use of micro cell technology to support mobile communications in public and private spaces.

Edward Vaizey: In general, the uses of particular technologies within mobile networks are commercial and technical considerations for the mobile operators to consider. However, the use of microcell technology to support mobile communications in public spaces has been limited to date. The imminent auction of the 2600 MHz band for 4G services may make microcell applications more practical for operators to implement in the future.
	Femtocells, which allow mobile phone calls to be transferred over broadband, are typically deployed in private residences or business locations. As of June/July 2012 there were over 200,000 in use in the UK with take-up in rural areas over three times higher than take-up in urban areas. However, these devices can usually only serve a small number of individual devices (typically between four and eight), which have to be registered with the femtocell as you would for a private wi-fi hub.
	I am also informed that the number of public wi-fi hotspots operated by the main providers—BT (excluding BT WiFi provided from BT residential or business hubs), Virgin, The Cloud (Sky) and O2 continue to grow. As of the middle of 2012 they operated over 16,000 public hotspots between them, with those within London being extensively used during the Olympics.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many procurement officers are currently employed by her Department.

Hugh Robertson: The Department currently employs three procurement officers, two of whom are on loan from other Government Departments.
	The procurement officers seek value for money for the Departments annual £26 million third party spend on procured goods and services. In addition they support the Department's major broadband projects and arm’s length bodies procurement activity.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many civil servants in her Department regularly deal with procurement services.

Hugh Robertson: Within the Department, three civil servants regularly deal with procurement services.

Radio Frequencies

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will consider encouraging licence holders to make spectrum available to operators who wish to make use of micro technology.

Edward Vaizey: On 22 November Ofcom published its consultation on TV white spaces. The consultation closes on 10 January and is available on the Ofcom website. The presentation included within the accompanying information to the consultation notes that Ofcom's response to the DCMS discussion paper on the Communications review indicated that there were clear benefits in using database-supported frequency management tools to make spectrum available in a more dynamic market. DCMS and Ofcom will continue to work together to explore mechanisms by which spectrum could be made available to the market in such a way as to meet those particular market needs.

Redundancy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many civil service posts have been made redundant by her Department in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of redundancies in each such year.

Hugh Robertson: The following table shows the number of posts that have been reduced as result of early departure exercises that the Department ran in the financial years 2010-11 to 2011-12.
	
		
			 Financial year Total costs (£) Number of posts made redundant 
			 2011-12 1,906,281 26 
			 2010-11 2,891,000 44 
		
	
	The Department did not run any early departure exercises from 1999 to 2010 to reduce the number of posts. The Department does not hold a central record of individuals who exited under voluntary redundancy terms before 2010, but no posts during this time were made redundant.

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total amount of redundancy pay paid to civil servants in her Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Hugh Robertson: The following table shows the total amount of redundancy payments made to civil servants in the Department in each month between July and December 2012.
	
		
			  Total costs (£) 
			 July 496,981.15 
			 August 53,138.50 
			 September 0 
			 October 0 
			 November 0 
			 December 226,425.52 
			 Total 776,545.17 
		
	
	The Department launched a voluntary exit exercise in September 2010, January 2012 and in September 2012. The purpose of this exercise is to reduce our pay bill expenditure to achieve a 50% reduction in administration costs by 2013, thereby contributing towards reducing the Government deficit. We have calculated the pay bill savings to be £3 million.

Sickness Absence

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 10 December 2012, Official Report, column 137W, on sick leave, if she will make an assessment of the contribution mindfulness-based practice can make to reducing workplace stress and staff absences in her Department.

Hugh Robertson: There are currently no plans to make an assessment of the contribution mindfulness-based practice can make to reducing work place stress and staff absences.

Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many temporary staff have been recruited in her Department in each month from July to December 2012.

Hugh Robertson: All temporary recruitment during this period was in order to provide specialist skills needed by the Department for specific projects. The following table shows the total number of temporary staff recruited in each month between July and December 2012.
	
		
			  Number of temporary staff recruited 
			 July 2 
			 August 3 
			 September 7 
		
	
	
		
			 October 5 
			 November 3 
			 December 2 
			 Total 22

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Members

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of an hon. Member in 2011.

John Thurso: There is no established methodology for calculating the cost of an hon. Member in a year.
	The House of Commons has two estimates. The administration estimate covers items such as the running of the Chamber and committees, the upkeep of the parliamentary estate, the Library, visitor services, education, security, catering, ICT, finance and human resources. The Members estimate covers items such as costs arising from the Members' pension scheme, funding for opposition parties, and IT equipment for Members. In 2011/12 the total expenditure across these two estimates was £240 million.
	A significant proportion of this expenditure relates to the upkeep and conservation of the estate, including the Palace of Westminster (which is part of a World Heritage site), services to the public, and security.
	It should be noted that these figures exclude hon. Members' salaries and expenses, which are a matter for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
	The hon. Member may wish to contact the Director of Finance, who will be happy to discuss what other data could be provided that might assist him.

WALES

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many procurement officers are currently employed by his Department.

Stephen Crabb: None.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many procurement officers in his Department have relevant procurement qualifications.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office does not employ any procurement officers.

Redundancy

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's Executive agencies and non- departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what the cost of those redundancies has been.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office, since its establishment in 1999, has not been responsible for any Executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies.

Sovereignty

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent representations he has received from political parties calling for a referendum on Welsh independence.

David Jones: None.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Housing Benefit

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect of the under-occupancy penalty on servicemen and their families.

Mark Francois: I have had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on the effect of the under-occupancy penalty on service personnel and their families.

SCOTLAND

Income Tax Personal Allowance

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the number of people in Scotland who will be affected by the planned change to the income tax personal allowance.

Michael Moore: From 1 April 2013, the personal allowance will rise by an additional £235 to £9,440. This further increase to the personal allowance will benefit 2.2 million people in Scotland, lifting an additional 21,000 people out of income tax entirely. This means a total of 183,000 people in Scotland will be taken out the income tax system.

Scottish Independence: Border Control

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of Scottish independence on border control at the border between Scotland and Northumberland.

Michael Moore: The UK Government are not making plans for independence as we are confident that when the referendum is held, Scotland will choose to remain part of a strong, successful United Kingdom.

Tourism

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with industry representatives on tourism in Scotland.

David Mundell: Scotland Office Ministers meet representatives from the tourism sector in Scotland on a regular basis. The UK Government are committed to the promotion of Scotland overseas.

Redundancy

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's Executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what the cost of those redundancies has been.

David Mundell: The only non-departmental public body that the Scotland Office is responsible for is the Boundary Commission for Scotland. The Scotland Office is not responsible for any Executive agencies. The Boundary Commission for Scotland does not employ staff directly. All staff that join the Boundary Commission do so on assignment, secondment or loan agreement from the Scottish Government and therefore the issue of redundancy is a matter for the Scottish Government.

Temporary Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what amount his Department spent on interim staff as defined by the National Audit Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office spend on interim staff was (a) £35,482 in 2010-11 and (b) £21,446 in 2011-12. The agency staff were engaged to fill vacancies in the Office and were not additional to the staff numbers reported in the annual reports and accounts of the Office.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Employment Agencies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total spending on recruitment agencies by her Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Michael Penning: During this period, my Department spent the following amounts on recruitment agencies:
	
		
			 2012 £ 
			 July 4,229 
			 August 3,005 
			 September 6,072 
			 October 6,495 
			 November 15,042 
			 Note: Figures for December are not yet available. 
		
	
	My Department also has a 12-month contract with nijobs, a Northern Ireland based recruitment agency which is used when we need to advertise for specialist posts in Northern Ireland. This contract costs £1,500 per annum.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many procurement officers are currently employed by her Department.

Michael Penning: My Department does not currently employ a procurement officer.
	As required, the Department sources advice and guidance on procurement-related issues from the Government Procurement Service in Whitehall and/or the Central Procurement Directorate of the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civil servants in her Department regularly deal with procurement services.

Michael Penning: Advice on procurement-related matters is provided to staff in my Department by our Estates and Office Services Team and is based on guidance from the Government Procurement Service in Whitehall and/or the Central Procurement Directorate of the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland. No member of staff is employed solely to deal with procurement services.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many procurement officers in her Department have relevant procurement qualifications.

Michael Penning: My Department does not employ procurement officers. When needed, professional advice on procurement-related matters is sourced from the Government Procurement Service in Whitehall and/or the Central Procurement Directorate of the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland.

Redundancy

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many Civil Service posts have been made redundant by her Department in each year since 1999; and what the cost of redundancies has been in each such year.

Michael Penning: Comparable figures for my Department as it is now configured are not available for the years preceding the completion of devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010.
	Since April 2010, my Department has not made any staff redundant.

Redundancy

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many posts have been declared redundant by each of her Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what the cost of those redundancies has been.

Michael Penning: It has been long standing policy for my Department to refer hon. Members to non-departmental public bodies when seeking information on operational matters. This reflects the fact that such bodies are both independent and best placed to answer such questions. It also makes sense that when hon. Members seek information relating to a particular non-departmental public body independence from Government is important, they should engage with that body direct, rather than to seek to do so through Ministers. The Northern Ireland Office has responsibility for two Executive non-departmental public bodies and one Advisory non-departmental public body, contact details for which are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 ALB Status Contact details 
			 Parades Commission NI Executive NDPB Info@paradescommission.org 
			 Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Executive NDPB information@nihrc.org 
			 Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland Advisory NDPB bcni@belfast.org.uk

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total amount of redundancy pay paid to civil servants in her Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Michael Penning: My Department did not make any redundancy payments between July and December 2012.

Temporary Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what amount her Department spent on interim staff as defined by the National Audit Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Penning: My Department did not spend any money on interim staff during 2010-11 or 2011-12.

Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many temporary staff have been recruited in her Department in each month from July to December 2012.

Michael Penning: During the period in question, my Department recruited one temporary member of staff, in September 2012, for a specialist finance role.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

British Indian Ocean Territory

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the timetable is for negotiations on the extension of the use of British Indian Ocean Territory by the US for defence and other purposes in accordance with the agreement of 1966.

Mark Simmonds: The 1966 Exchange of Notes with the US provides that the islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), including Diego Garcia, shall be available to them until 2016 and continuing thereafter for a further period of 20 years unless terminated by either Government in the period 2014-16. There have been no substantive discussions to date with the US on the future of the US presence in BIOT post-2016 nor has a timetable been set for any such discussions.

Conditions of Employment

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of staff in his Department requested (a) part-time, (b) job-share or (c) other flexible working arrangements in each of the last five years; and how many such requests were granted.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) supports flexible working for its employees where it meets business needs. We have extended the right to all our employees to have a request for flexible working considered, either on an ad hoc basis or for a regular change to their working pattern. The FCO does not retain specific data on the number of requests for flexible working made by staff. However we are currently developing means for these to be recorded within our HR Management System to record a wider range of flexible working patterns.
	The number of staff working part-time or job sharing in the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Number of Job Sharers (JS) 17 13 16 18 19 
			 Number of Part Timers (PT) 115 121 126 115 122 
			       
			 Total number of JS and PT 132 134 142 133 141 
			 Percentage of total staff 2.8 2.8 2.9 2.8 3.1 
			 Note: These figures include all FCO civil servants based in the UK and overseas, but do not include staff from FCO Services, (an Executive Agency and Trading Fund of the FCO), the UK Border Agency or locally engaged staff employed overseas.

Equality

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of staff in his Department have received training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office introduced an e-learning diversity training package for all staff (UK based and overseas locally engaged staff) in May 2006. All new entrants must complete the package and all staff are encouraged to repeat the training annually. The training was updated in 2011 to reflect changes to legislation and the requirements of the Equality Act. We are only able to provide data on how many staff have completed the training since January 2011. These records show that just under 2,000 members of staff (approximately 15% of the workforce) have completed the training since January 2011. The principles of equality and diversity are also embedded within the annual appraisal processes which apply to all staff.

Redundancy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what the cost of those redundancies has been.

Alistair Burt: Since 1999, no staff have been made compulsorily redundant in the following executive agencies and arm’s length bodies (ALBs) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office:
	FCO Services;
	Wilton Park;
	Great Britain China Centre.
	The British Council has made 56 staff compulsorily redundant since 1999. The cost of redundancy payments made in 2010-11 and 2011-12 was £563,014 and £28,633 respectively. No costs are available prior to this date as the information was not recorded centrally. To collate the information now, from individual records, would incur disproportionate cost.
	The Westminster Foundation for Democracy has made three staff compulsorily redundant since 1999: two staff in 2007-08 and the Chief Executive Officer in 2009. The total cost of redundancy payments was £215,761.

HEALTH

Arthritis

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his policy is on the use of biological therapies on adults diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and who have a disease activity score of above 3.2;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK's eligibility criteria for access to biological therapies on the clinical outcomes achieved by patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Norman Lamb: The Department has not issued guidance on the use of biological therapies for people with rheumatoid arthritis. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published a clinical guideline on the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and technology appraisal guidance on the use of certain individual biological therapies. NICE recommends the use of certain biological therapies for the treatment of patients with severe disease (disease activity score greater than 5.1 confirmed on at least two occasions, one month apart) if the patient has not responded to treatment with two separate combinations of conventional disease-modifying drugs.
	Where NICE has issued positive appraisal guidance on a medicine, the national health service in England is legally obliged to provide funding for such treatments. Access to biological therapies in other countries of the United Kingdom is a matter for the devolved Administrations.

Blood Diseases

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to improve the recording of a (a) diagnosis of sepsis and (b) death from sepsis in NHS trusts; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The World Health Organisation's (WHO) International Classification of Diseases, which is used by the national health service, currently does not distinguish between sepsis and septicaemia (bloodstream infections). However, we understand that the WHO is currently revising its classification and the Department will be reviewing definitions of sepsis for recording purposes in the NHS in the light of that.
	Sepsis is the invasion and infection of a person with pathogenic micro-organisms that cause a severe response in the body. Sepsis can take many forms and, at its most serious, can result in death.
	Frontline health care professionals are routinely trained to recognise the early signs of severe sepsis and how to treat it. The Department supports existing international guidance on the management of sepsis and used this to inform the ‘Start Smart Then Focus’ guidance published in November 2011. A copy has already been placed in the Library.
	In addition, registered health care providers are expected to ensure ongoing education of staff on the principles and practice of the prevention and control of infection, as advocated in the ‘Code of Practice for the prevention and control of infection and related guidance’.

Cannabis

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 November 2012, Official Report, column 193W, on cannabis, what effect the (a) Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and (b) Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 have on the availability of the Bedrocan and Bediol forms of cannabis by prescription and on the NHS.

Norman Lamb: Cannabis and its preparations, including Bedrocan and Bediol, are Class B controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Cannabis is also listed in schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 and Bedrocan and Bediol are also subject to the same restrictions.
	While clinicians can prescribe any product, including any unlicensed product, United Kingdom pharmacists are only able to possess, supply or dispense schedule 1 drugs under a Home Office licence.

Care Homes: Merseyside

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the rate was per 100,000 people of permanent admissions to residential and nursing care homes for over-65s in (a) Wirral South constituency, (b) Wirral and (c) Merseyside in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what the rate was per 100,000 people of permanent admissions to residential and nursing care homes for 18 to 65 year-olds in (a) Wirral South constituency, (b) Wirral and (c) Merseyside in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: We are informed by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care that it collects and publishes data on the number of adults—those aged 18 to 64 and 65 and over—who are permanently admitted to local authority-supported residential and nursing care. Information on the numbers of people who arrange and fund their own care is not collected.
	The Information Centre does not collect data at constituency level or for Merseyside, as this does not exist as a single local authority.
	The following tables show data, provided by the Information Centre, on the rate per 100,000 population of local authority-supported permanent admissions to residential and nursing care of those aged 18 to 64 years and 65 and over for Wirral, Sefton, St. Helens, Liverpool and Knowsley local authorities since 2007-08. These authorities are collectively referenced as serving the Merseyside area.
	
		
			 Rate(1) per 100,000 population admitted to residential care 
			 Local authority Year(2) Age 18 to 64 Age 65 and over 
			 Wirral 2007-08 10 570 
			  2008-09 10 460 
			  2009-10 20 570 
			  2010-11 15 500 
			  2011-12 15 575 
			     
			 Liverpool 2007-08 10 520 
			  2008-09 15 815 
			  2009-10 15 665 
			  2010-11 10 730 
			  2011-12 15 660 
			     
			 Sefton 2007-08 15 510 
			  2008-09 15 605 
			  2009-10 15 570 
			  2010-11 10 495 
			  2011-12 10 610 
			     
			 St Helens 2007-08 5 280 
			  2008-09 10 485 
			  2009-10 5 390 
			  2010-11 5 415 
			  2011-12 10 560 
			     
			 Knowsley 2007-08 25 635 
			  2008-09 15 560 
			  2009-10 10 655 
			  2010-11 10 620 
			  2011-12 10 590 
		
	
	
		
			 Rate(1) per 100,000 population admitted to nursing care 
			 Local authority Year(2) Age 18 to 64 Age 65 and over 
			 Wirral 2007-08 10 545 
			  2008-09 5 350 
			  2009-10 15 370 
			  2010-11 10 295 
			  2011-12 5 260 
			     
			 Liverpool 2007-08 5 180 
			  2008-09 15 290 
			  2009-10 10 235 
			  2010-11 10 245 
			  2011-12 5 200 
			     
			 Sefton 2007-08 5 295 
			  2008-09 10 410 
			  2009-10 5 285 
			  2010-11 10 250 
			  2011-12 10 295 
			     
			 St Helens 2007-08 5 640 
			  2008-09 5 335 
			  2009-10 0 420 
			  2010-11 5 325 
			  2011-12 10 495 
			     
			 Knowsley 2007-08 5 270 
			  2008-09 10 310 
			  2009-10 20 335 
			  2010-11 10 300 
			  2011-12 10 275 
			 (1) The Information Centre has calculated numbers as a rate per 100,000 population against figures supplied by the Office for National Statistics mid-year population estimates. (2) Figures for 2011-12 are provisional; all other years are final. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest five.

Equality

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of staff in his Department have received training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 in each of the last three years.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has operated a diversity training programme since 2002. This programme has been adapted to incorporate new legislation. The overview booklet given to all staff as part of induction covers equality and diversity, with links to further information on the Department's intranet. The Department's induction e-learning tool covers equality, diversity and human rights.
	For the last three years, all new staff joining the Department have attended an induction training event which includes a session on equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.
	Formal training and other learning opportunities are available to all departmental staff on the public sector equality duty (PSED) and about embedding equality in policy development. The Department does not collect data on the overall proportion of staff who have attended training sessions or accessed learning materials.
	Guidance on equality and diversity, including on the Equality Act 2010 and the PSED, is available to all staff, alongside the ongoing provision of advice and support from the Department's equality and inclusion team. Departmental staff also have access to civil service learning and other central Government courses on the Equality Act 2010.

Health Services: Lancashire

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the financial deficit was of each (a) primary care trust and (b) NHS hospital trust in Lancashire in each of the last three years.

Daniel Poulter: All primary care trusts and national health service hospital trusts in Lancashire reported a surplus in their annual accounts from 2009-10 to 2011-12.
	Financial accounts for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust are not held centrally. These can be obtained directly from the trusts.

Hospitals: Merseyside

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many emergency readmissions within 30 days of discharge from hospital there were in (a) Wirral South constituency, (b) Wirral and (c) Merseyside in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: Information is not available in the precise form requested. Information on the number of emergency re-admissions within 28 days of discharge for the five most recent available years is given in the following table for Wirral primary care trust (identical to Wirral metropolitan county district) and Merseyside metropolitan county. Information on standardised rates of emergency re-admission (emergency re-admissions divided by the total number of hospital discharges, adjusted for variations in case mix) is available from the website of the Health and Social Care Information Centre at:
	https://indicators.ic.nhs.uk/webview/
	
		
			 Number of emergency re-admissions to hospital within 28 days of discharge from hospital, persons, financial years 2006-07 to 2010-11 
			 Area 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 
			 Wirral Primary Care Trust 5,503 5,734 5,662 5,486 4,969 
			 Merseyside Metropolitan County 24,299 24,274 24,304 25,235 22,100 
		
	
	
		
			 Notes: 1. All ‘re-admissions’ includes all finished and unfinished continuous in-patient (CIP) spells that are emergency admissions within 0-27 days (inclusive) of the last, previous discharge from hospital, including those where the patient dies, but excluding the following: those with a main specialty upon re-admission coded under obstetric or mental health specialties; and those where the re-admitting spell has a diagnosis of cancer (other than benign or in situ) or chemotherapy for cancer coded anywhere in the spell. 2. No attempt has been made to assess whether the re-admission was linked to the discharge in terms of diagnosis. 3. Some emergency re-admissions may be potentially avoidable and a result of poor treatment in hospital, or poor or badly organised rehabilitation and support services when a person is transferred home following treatment. This analysis does not attempt to identify whether the emergency re-admissions were avoidable. 4. It should be noted that the data presented are a count of re-admissions and not of individual patients, as a patient may be re-admitted more than once in a financial year.

Medical Equipment

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of differences in the price paid for medical devices by foundation trust hospitals and health providers.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not routinely assess the differences in prices paid for medical devices by foundation trust hospitals and health providers. National health service trusts are responsible for running their own procurements and ensuring they are getting value for money from their procurement.

NHS Commissioning Board

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions since his appointment the medical director of the NHS Commissioning Board has worked on a Saturday or Sunday.

Anna Soubry: Since taking up his appointment as NHS medical director in November 2007, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has worked whatever hours have been necessary to discharge the responsibilities of the role. This has routinely involved working in the evenings, at weekends and on public holidays.

NHS: Freedom of Expression

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on freedom of speech for NHS staff and others working on NHS premises of the case between Mr Adrian Smith and Trafford Housing Trust.

Daniel Poulter: Each national health service organisation is an employer in its own right and is expected to have human resource policies and procedures that comply with current legislation including the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European convention on human rights that cover the right to freedom of speech.
	The NHS Constitution sets out that NHS organisations should have a clear policy on equality and diversity and a written procedure for handling disciplinary issues. Decisions taken by employers regarding an individual's alleged misconduct must always be viewed against the specific facts of the case.

Olympic Games 2012

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which events at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were attended by each Minister in his Department using tickets or passes for which they did not pay personally; and what the cost was of attending each such event for members of the public who used comparable seats or had comparable access.

Daniel Poulter: The Government pledged to publish these details following the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will do so shortly.

Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the monetary value was of contracts awarded by his Department to (a) management consultancies and (b) IT companies in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: Part management consultancy spend and information technology (IT) companies spend for 2010-11 and 2011-12 for the Department of Health (this includes the Core Department and Connecting for Health) are both in the following tables:
	
		
			 Management consultancy services 
			 Financial year £ million 
			 2008-09 107.00 
			 2009-10 115.00 
			 2010-11 14.77 
			 2011-12 15.05 
		
	
	This Government are determined to use management consultants if and only if they can add real value and where no other alternative exists, which ensures taxpayers' money is spent wisely.
	
		
			 IT companies 
			 Financial year £ million 
			 2008-09 75.12 
			 2009-10 104.67 
			 2010-11 112.47 
			 2011-12 120.11 
		
	
	Departmental IT companies spend is taken from the combined Department's Business Management System (BMS) and also Connecting for Health financial reporting sources for all years 2008-09 to 2011-12 and is taken to mean total ICT spend as compared to services that are IT based. The reported amount is therefore defined by how it is categorised in the accounting systems.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many procurement officers are currently employed by his Department;
	(2)  how many civil servants in his Department regularly deal with procurement services;
	(3)  how many procurement officers in his Department have relevant procurement qualifications.

Daniel Poulter: In its response to the National Audit Office study on Government procurement in October 2012, the Department reported a total of 39 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts in its centralised procurement function. Of these, 24 FTEs are procurement professionals —15 holding full graduate membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, with the other nine holding foundation level in progress towards graduate status.
	The centralised procurement function provides the professional lead role and supports core spending activities across the Department, although staff outside the function will also engage in procurement services. It is therefore not possible to identify a definitive number of civil servants engaged in procurement services across the Department.

Procurement

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which contracts his Department has signed with private companies for the provision of services previously provided by the public sector under his departmental responsibility since May 2010; what the (a) length of the contract and (b) financial penalties for opting out early are in each case where possible within the cost constraints of this question; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The Department contracts for a wide variety of services to support its delivery agenda. The Department's central procurement system does not have a separate category for business process outsourcing (private companies delivering services previously provided by the public sector), or any central means of consistently identifying outsourced services. To provide a comprehensive list would mean going back to each business area and Directorate in the Department and consulting on which of the contracts they have commissioned are to be considered to be business process outsourcing. This would incur disproportionate cost.
	The Department publishes information on newly awarded contracts on Contracts Finder, the Government online facility for the publication of tendering opportunities and contract information. Contracts Finder may be found at:
	http://contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/

Redundancy

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Civil Service posts have been made redundant by his Department in each year since 1999; and what the cost of redundancies has been in each such year.

Daniel Poulter: We are not able to report how many civil service posts have been made redundant during the period specified. The following table shows the number of the Department's civil servants who have been made redundant from 1999 to date.
	
		
			  Number of redundancies (both voluntary and compulsory) Cost (£) 
			 1999-2000 20 2.3 million 
			 2000-01 18 2 million 
			 2001-02 22 3.2 million 
			 2002-03 23 1.4 million 
			 2003-04 110 7.6 million 
		
	
	
		
			 2004-05 200 23.1 million 
			 2005-06 33 6.5 million 
			 2006-07 39 5.7 million 
			 2007-08 76 7.9 million 
			 2008-09 15 2.6 million 
			 2009-10 18 2.2 million 
			 2010-11 261 (1)20.3 million 
			 2011-12 19 274,000 
			 2012-13 27 1.7 million 
			 (1) Date new compensation scheme came into effect and changes were made to exit payments.

Redundancy

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what the cost of those redundancies has been.

Daniel Poulter: The following table shows the total cost of “exit packages” as reported in the individual published annual report and accounts of executive non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies for financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12.
	Prior to this exit package, information was not published by the individual bodies, or formally collected by the Department in the format requested. To supply it from 1999 would incur disproportionate costs.
	
		
			 Exit packages per accounts consolidation data 
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			  Total number of exit packages Total cost of exit packages £000 Total number of exit packages Total cost of exit packages £000 
			 Non-departmental public bodies:     
			 Care Quality Commission 140 9,181 50 722 
			 Health Protection Agency 33 749 38 839 
			 Appointments Commission 9 430 * 26 
			 Executive Agencies:     
			 Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency 1 47 25 907 
		
	
	The data are taken directly from the audited consolidation schedules provided by the bodies concerned, from which the Departments annual report and accounts are prepared. The disclosure in the accounts shows the number and value of exit packages taken by staff leaving in the year.
	Exit packages includes compulsory redundancies and other departures. The latter includes the cost of both early retirements (excluding those relating to ill-health) and voluntary redundancies. However, it is not possible to separately identify the value of either of these costs from the data collected. Therefore an overall figure for redundancies is not separately identifiable.
	The expense associated with these departures may have been recognised in part or in full in a previous period.
	Due to the small numbers of staff involved, and in order to comply with the Data Protection Act, the numbers of staff for the Appointments Commission are represented by “*” as per their published accounts.

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total amount of redundancy pay paid to civil servants in his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has paid a total of £1,460,223 to civil servants as redundancy payments between July and December 2012. We are unable to break this down into individual months for July to November as this could identify payments made to individuals. The relevant information the Department is able to provide is presented in the following table:
	
		
			 2012 Cost of voluntary exits (£) 
			 July to November 1,016,622 
			 December 443,601 
			 Total costs July to December 1,460,223

Temporary Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what amount his Department spent on interim staff as defined by the National Audit Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not hold information about spending specifically on interims as defined by the National Audit Office. Information about the Department's overall spending on ‘temporary/agency’ staff (this includes agency and temporary staff, contractors and secondees) is included in the Department's Resource Accounts. From the 2011-12 Resource Accounts—at following link—the figures for the ‘Core Department’ and ‘Connecting for Health’ for 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively can be found in table 17 on page 47:
	https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/publications/files/2012/10/23735_HC-66-DoH.pdf

Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many temporary staff have been recruited in his Department in each month from July to December 2012.

Daniel Poulter: The numbers of temporary workers—agency workers and contractors—who have joined the Department in each month from July to December 2012 are presented in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of temporary workers joining 
			 July 2012 29 
			 August 2012 25 
			 September 2012 23 
			 October 2012 31 
			 November 2012 47 
			 December 2012 26

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what the size of her Department's team is in (a) Kabul and (b) Helmand; and if she will make a statement about planned changes to her Department's presence after 2014;
	(2)  what her policy is on the future of (a) Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and (b) other PRTs in Afghanistan; and if she will make a statement.

Justine Greening: For security reasons we cannot provide exact staffing numbers for Helmand and Kabul.
	As agreed by President Karzai and the international community all Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) across Afghanistan will close by the end of 2014, including the UK-led Helmand PRT. From 2014, DFID Afghanistan is currently planning to maintain a presence in Kabul of similar size to our current operation.

Afghanistan

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department has spent in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Helmand Province in each of the last 10 years.

Justine Greening: DFID bilateral spend in Afghanistan since 2002-03 is broken down as follows.
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Financial year Afghanistan Including Helmand specific programming 
			 2002-03 74.5 — 
			 2003-04 79.7 — 
			 2004-05 79.6 — 
			 2005-06 98.4 — 
			 2006-07 98.8 11.0 
			 2007-08 108.9 8.6 
			 2008-09 147.5 22.3 
			 2009-10 133.4 18.0 
			 2010-11 97.2 20.3 
			 2011-12 146.1 18.3 
		
	
	The DFID bilateral programme to Helmand began in 2006 with the UK assuming the NATO lead in the province. From 2003 to the present, DFID's national programme of support to the Afghan Government has also benefited Helmand Province indirectly.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 December 2012, Official Report, column 152W, on bovine tuberculosis, what judgements his Department makes on the movement of camelids when the keeper opts for the skin test rather than the voluntary blood test for tuberculosis; and if he will make a statement.

David Heath: Given the very limited sensitivity of the tuberculin skin test in camelids, a negative skin test result, particularly in animals originating in endemic bovine TB areas and/or from herds with a history of confirmed TB outbreaks, will be treated with particular caution. This is why up until now DEFRA has made available on a voluntary basis supplementary blood testing. These blood tests have now been validated and peer reviewed and DEFRA is proposing for the future: (a) to make the use of antibody TB blood testing compulsory to lift movement restrictions from camelid herds affected by confirmed TB outbreaks; and (b) to continue to recommend to the alpaca and llama societies the adoption of private skin and blood (antibody) tests as the industry standard for camelids being moved between premises in Great Britain.

EU Law

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which EU directives his Department transposed in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which EU directives his Department expects to transpose in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such directive to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Richard Benyon: The following directives were transposed by DEFRA in 2011:
	Directive 2009/106/EC amending Council Directive 2001/112/EC relating to fruit juices and certain similar products intended for human consumption.
	Directive 2009/125/EC establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products(1).
	Directive 2010/30/EC on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products.
	Directive 2010/46/EC on the characteristics to be covered as a minimum by the examination and the minimum conditions for examining certain varieties of agricultural plant species and vegetable species(1).
	The following directives were transposed by DEFRA in 2012:
	Directive 2009/126/EC establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products(1).
	Directive 2009/128/EC establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides.
	Directive 2010/60/EC providing for certain derogations for marketing of fodder plant seed mixtures intended for use in the preservation of the natural environment(1).
	Directive 2010/79/EC on the adaptation to technical progress of Annex III to Directive 2004/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds.
	Directive 2012/05/EC amending Council Directive 2000/75/EC as regards vaccination against bluetongue(1).
	DEFRA does not capture estimated costs to the public purse of new regulations but does capture estimated costs to business. These are set out in individual impact assessments which can be found on the Better Regulation Executive's impact assessment library:
	http://www.ialibrary.bis.gov.uk/links/
	We expect the following directives to be transposed by DEFRA in 2013:
	Directive 2010/75/EC on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control).
	Directive 2011/97/EC as regards specific criteria for the storage of metallic mercury considered as waste(2).
	Directive 2012/12/EC amending Council Directive 2001/112/EC relating to fruit juices and certain similar products intended for human consumption(2).
	Details of forthcoming Government regulations on business are published every six months in Statements of New Regulation. The most recent statement was published on 17 December and details new regulations expected over the period 1 January to 30 June 2013, including those to be introduced as a result of EU legislation. This Fifth Statement can be found on GOV.UK at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bis-fifth-statement-of-new-regulation-regulations-covering-january-to-june-2013
	(1) There are no associated impact assessments for this legislation because the legislation was not expected to have an impact on business or civil society.
	(2) Impact assessments will be published as they are developed.

Immigration

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will estimate the additional cost of the delivery of those public services for which his Department is responsible arising from inward migration since 1997.

Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA does not produce estimates of this nature. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.

Inland Waterways: Conservation

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will bring forward measures to prevent further aquatic invasive non-native species entering the UK from mainland Europe.

Richard Benyon: We currently seek to address the risks of invasive non-native species through the implementation of the non-native species framework strategy for GB. Actions have included, for example: domestic sales restrictions on our most invasive aquatic plant species; the development of a monitoring regime for non-native species; research into the impacts, methods of spread and control of invasive non-native species; and communications campaigns to encourage better biosecurity in the aquatic environment.
	Additionally, my officials will continue to work with the European Commission and other member states to ensure that an EU-wide strategy, whether through the legislative proposals that are now anticipated in spring 2013 or otherwise, will deliver sufficiently robust mechanisms to tackle the spread of invasive non-native species within and between member states, including the UK. An EU-wide approach is needed and officials have already played a prominent role in the Commission's working groups set up to inform the expected legislative proposals and will continue to do so to ensure that any proposals are proportionate and fit for purpose.

Livestock: Transport

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to his contributions of 13 December 2012, Official Report, column 529, on live animal exports, on how many occasions the authorisation to operate within the UK has been withdrawn from a live animal transporter in each of the last five years.

David Heath: The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) holds data for the period from 2010 to 2012 only. The AHVLA can only suspend or revoke the authorisations of transporters authorised by the competent authority in Great Britain. In 2010 such regulatory action was taken against two GB transporters. In 2011 such action was taken against one GB transporter and in 2012 such action was also taken against one GB transporter.

Livestock: Transport

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to his contributions of 13 December 2012, Official Report, column 530, on live animal exports, what has occurred as a result of each of the 30 statutory notices served on companies not in compliance with the regulations on transporting live animals for export.

David Heath: Under Article 26(2) of Council Regulation 1/2005, it is normally the responsibility of the competent authority responsible for the authorisation of the transporter to take the necessary regulatory action against a transporter where there has been a notified infringement of the legislation.
	In terms of those infringements relating to the suitability of vehicles, each of the statutory notices served required remedial action to be taken either after completion of the journey, if there was no immediate risk to the welfare of the animals, or, where there was such a risk to the animals, before the journey was permitted to continue, as was the case on four occasions. On 10 occasions the notices prohibited the further use of vehicles within Great Britain until such time as the necessary remedial action had been taken.

Nappies

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information his Department holds on the number of real nappy schemes run by local authorities; and what plans his Department has to encourage such schemes.

Richard Benyon: The Department does not collate this information centrally. However, the Waste and Resources Action programme collects data on waste prevention activities as part of its annual survey of local authority schemes. Data from 2011-12 showed that 160 collection and unitary authorities promoted real nappies. This represented almost 50% of the local authorities surveyed. There were an additional 37 authorities within a disposal authority that promoted real nappies.
	DEFRA has committed to developing a Waste Prevention programme for England, to be published by December 2013. The programme will set out a strategic direction and level of ambition for waste prevention. It will outline actions to be undertaken by a variety of organisations to increase the amount of items that are re-used and reduce the quantity of waste produced. During its development, we will consider which product categories and waste streams represent key areas for action to reduce waste generation.

Nappies

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will estimate the cost savings to local authorities of families choosing to use reusable nappies in the latest year for which figures are available.

Richard Benyon: The Department does not collate this information centrally and there are no current plans to do so, therefore no estimate can be made.

Nappies: Waste Disposal

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how long disposable nappies take to decompose when sent to landfill; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 7 January 2013
	As the rate of decomposition depends on a range of environmental factors in whatever landfill site the waste is deposited, there is no definitive answer to this question.
	The Environment Agency carried out Life Cycle Analysis comparing the impacts of disposable and reusable nappies in 2005, and this was updated in 2008. The reports are available on the Nappy Information Service website.

Nappies: Waste Disposal

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of disposable nappies in the waste stream.

Richard Benyon: While DEFRA does not take a specific policy position on nappy waste, landfill should be the last resort for biodegradable waste. Landfill tax remains a key driver for diverting waste from landfill.
	The Department is committed to developing a Waste Prevention programme for England, to be published by December 2013. The programme will set out a strategic direction and level of ambition for waste prevention. It will outline actions to be undertaken by a variety of organisations to increase the amount of items that are re-used and reduce the quantity of waste produced. In developing it, we will consider which product categories and waste streams represent key areas for action to help reduce waste generated.
	We plan to launch a “Call for Evidence” to collate views and data from a variety of stakeholders to support the programme's production.

Smoke and Chimney Gases

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he takes to monitor smoke or grit emissions from a wood or coal burning appliance so that no such appliance exceeds the limits set out in BS PD 6434; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Local authorities are responsible for the designation and supervision of smoke control areas. Only coal and wood-burning appliances exempted under Section 21 of the Clean Air Act 1993 can be used in a smoke control area. Local authorities provide the regulatory function, which includes monitoring of smoke emissions and ensuring that coal and wood-burning appliances installed in smoke control areas are exempted appliances. DEFRA currently manages the exemption process for appliances and fuels. The. requirements for exemption, “including reference to the BS PD 6434 test procedure, are provided on DEFRA’s smoke control website at:
	http://smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/

Smoke and Chimney Gases

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will establish a central register of appliance emissions that have been checked for validity prior to installation; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA has a central register of appliances that have been assessed for their particulate emissions and approved for use in smoke control areas. This list and the criteria used to assess emissions are provided on DEFRA’s smoke control website at:
	http://smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/
	The assessment criteria include the emission limit recommendations defined in BS PD 6434 for solid fuel domestic appliances up to 44 kW output.

VION Food Group

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what discussions his Department has had with VION NV on the retention of its UK operations in respect of (a) red meat, (b) poultry and (c) pork processing;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the sale of VION NV's food operations in the UK, announced on 19 November 2012, on UK farming.

David Heath: The sale of VION's UK operations is a commercial decision, and I understand that an agreement has already been reached for the management buyout of its UK pork business which will secure around 4,000 jobs. Discussions are ongoing with a number of prospective purchasers for its other UK business units for poultry and red meat. DEFRA officials are continuing to follow developments and to liaise with farming industry bodies.

Waste Management

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 30 march 2011, Official Report, column 344W, on waste management, on what evidence he based his statement that Site Waste Management Plans Regulations (2008) had helped to encourage waste prevention and recycling in the construction industry.

Richard Benyon: The answer was based on a 2009 Waste and Resources Action Programme Site Waste Management Plans Impact survey. This reported that site waste management plans had led to better recycling of waste produced (according to 70% of respondents) as well as preventing waste through designing waste out (33% respondents).

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what guidance his Department provides on the distances offshore wind farms should be built away from sensitive coastlines; and if he will make a statement.

John Hayes: Any proposal to build an offshore wind farm is subject to project level assessment, including environmental impact assessment, where locationally specific impacts will be considered. The Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1) and the National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure (EN-3), set the policy context for the development of nationally significant energy infrastructure, including offshore wind farms.

TREASURY

Air Passenger Duty

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an assessment of the effect of air passenger duty on the competitiveness of regional airports with London airports.

Sajid Javid: The 2011 consultation into air passenger duty (APD) gathered comments and evidence on the impact of APD on the UK's regional economies. The Government's response to the consultation, published on 6 December 2011, can be found online here:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/2011budget_airpassenger.htm

Business

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the efficiency of the Inward Processing Relief process and its ease of use for small businesses.

David Gauke: Inward Processing (IP) allows third country goods to be imported duty and tax free by traders established in the EU for processing on condition that they will be re-exported and not released to free circulation (release to free circulation would disadvantage other EU traders who do not take the benefit of using cheaper third country goods in their processing operations). All IP authorisations for SMEs are dealt with by a central office within EU time scales.
	IP is regularly audited by both National and EU Auditors.

Business: Taxation

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to provide small businesses with advice and help and to promote their understanding of the tax system.

David Gauke: The Government are committed to improving small businesses' experience of the tax system, including improving education and support, as set out in ‘Making tax easier, quicker and simpler for small business’, which was published at Budget 2012 and can be found online at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2012/sme-4756.pdf
	As part of this commitment, as announced at autumn statement 2012, HMRC will significantly expand its online services over the next three years to make the tax system more efficient, transparent and less burdensome for both small businesses and individual taxpayers.

Child Benefit

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many taxpayers have contacted HM Revenue and Customs on the forthcoming change to child benefit policy to (a) end their entitlement, (b) adjust their tax code, (c) request further information and (d) make a complaint; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The information requested is as follows:
	(a) An individual's entitlement to child benefit is not affected by the introduction of the high income child benefit charge. Underlying entitlement to child benefit will remain if an individual decides to opt out of receiving payment of child benefit. As of 7 January 2013, approximately 270,000 child benefit claimants had requested that payment be stopped.
	(b) As of 7 January 2013, approximately 3,100 taxpayers had asked for the high income child benefit charge to be included in their PAYE code in 2013-14. The deadline for doing so is October 2013.
	(c) As of 7 January 2013, the high-income child benefit charge pages of the HMRC website had received approximately 1.7 million hits and HMRC had received approximately 61,000 calls about the high income child benefit charge.
	(d) As of 7 January 2013, six complaints had been received about the high income child benefit charge.

Corporation Tax: Energy

Dominic Raab: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much UK corporation tax was paid by energy companies operating in the UK in each of the last five years.

Sajid Javid: The following table shows the total corporation tax liability for companies in the energy sector in each financial year from 2006-07 to 2010-11. More recent data are not available.
	
		
			 Energy sector(1) corporation tax liabilities, United Kingdom, financial years 
			 Financial year(2) Corporation tax liability(3)(£ million) 
			 2006-07 5,608 
			 2007-08 6,800 
			 2008-09 11,534 
			 2009-10 7,038 
		
	
	
		
			 2010-11 9,069 
			 (1) Summary Trade Classification categories: Coal Extracting and Manufacture of Solid Fuels, Extraction of Mineral Oil and Natural Gas, Mineral Oil Processing, Nuclear Fuel Production and Production and Distribution of Gas, Electricity, and other forms of energy. (2) Comprises accounting periods ending within each financial year. (3) Liability figures, especially for 2010-11, are subject to revision—for example as additional returns are received. Further information is available in the National Statistics publication on Corporation Tax available at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/ct-receipts/corporation-tax-statistics.pdf

Crown Lands and Estates

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many estates have been claimed by the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer in each of the last five years; and what the value was of each such property.

Sajid Javid: Since devolution the Office of Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer (QLTR) has been under the direction of Scottish Ministers rather than the Treasury Commissioners.
	More information can be found at:
	http://www.qltr.gov.uk/

Deloitte

John Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings Ministers and officials in his Department had with Deloitte in each month of (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Sajid Javid: Treasury Ministers and officials engage with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
	The Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings with external organizations. This is available online at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Employment Agencies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total spending on recruitment agencies by his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Sajid Javid: In May 2010, the Government introduced an external recruitment freeze across central Government Departments. Business critical roles are only advertised when the relevant expertise is not already available internally or within the civil service. In addition, over the last three years, in order to be more focused and to save costs, one single campaign has been run to recruit graduate policy advisors to fill vacancies at the Range D grade. Ministerial approval is required for all recruitment, whether permanent or temporary.
	Since 31 March 2010 headcount at HM Treasury has reduced by 13% and total recruitment costs have fallen by 30% since 2009-10.
	HM Treasury spending on recruitment agencies is shown in the following table. The figures are taken from HM Treasury's accounting system and exclude recoverable VAT.
	
		
			 Period £ 
			 July 2012 105,268 
			 August 2012 101,645 
			 September 2012 46,150 
			 October 2012 89,220 
			 November 2012 97,625 
			 December 2012 (1)n/a 
			 (1) December spend data is not currently available. 
		
	
	The spending relates to the recruitment of both temporary and permanent staff and includes the cost of advertising, candidate sourcing and assessment. The figures also include the cost of temporary and interim staff paid through recruitment agencies.
	The Treasury's accounting system does not separately identify recruitment agencies. Consequently the above figures could exclude some firms that could be considered recruitment agencies whose spending is not posted to recruitment codes. If any such spending has taken place it will not be significant but could not be identified within the disproportionate costs threshold.

Equality

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of staff in his Department have received training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 in the last three years.

Sajid Javid: Details on the proportion of staff in the Treasury who have received training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 is made available to all Treasury staff via (i) the induction course for all new staff, (ii) the diversity training resources available on Civil Service Learning (a central database of training resources available to all civil servants), (iii) diversity and equality guidance on the Treasury's intranet site and (iv) workshops and other events focusing on diversity and equality issues, most recently workshops on bullying and harassment were made available to all staff.

Individual Savings Accounts: Children

Nigel Adams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to ensure that children are not adversely affected by the transfer of child trust funds to junior ISAs.

Sajid Javid: The Government have no plans at present to allow child trust funds (CTFs) to be transferred to junior ISAs. The latest published data show there is a sizeable and competitive market for CTFs, and steady growth in the value of accounts. As at April 2011, around 5.5 million children had a CTF, and these accounts were worth around £4.3 billion, with around 70 CTF providers in the market.
	As with all features of the tax system, the Government will keep under review whether any action is necessary in the future.

Infrastructure

John Healey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what infrastructure projects have (a) been awarded confirmed support and (b) contractually signed borrowing guarantees under the Government's borrowing guarantee scheme to date.

Danny Alexander: In the autumn statement of 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-882, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced projects worth £10 billion had pre-qualified under the UK Guarantee Scheme.
	Infrastructure projects guaranteed under the UK guarantees scheme are commercially confidential and exempt from disclosure. Releasing information is likely to have a detrimental impact on the formulation and development of Government policy and undermine the Government’s negotiating position during negotiations resulting in less effective use of public funds.
	We cannot answer this question further without prejudicing the process of ongoing policy formulation.

Maternity Pay

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate his Department has made of the likely effect on families or single parents of the decision to apply increases in maternity pay of one per cent over the next three financial years.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
	Assessments of impacts will accompany the uprating order for 2013 and the forthcoming Uprating Bill.

Minimum Wage

Ian Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff worked in the HM Revenue and Customs minimum wage enforcement team in each year since 2008.

David Gauke: The current number of FTE staff in HMRC's minimum wage enforcement team (January 2013) is 144.15. The annual breakdown requested from 2008 is as follows:
	
		
			 As at April each year Number FTE staff 
			 2008 133.12 
			 2009 138.18 
			 2010 142,74 
			 2011 138.37 
			 2012 134.67

National Insurance Contributions: New Businesses

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to extending the national insurance contributions holiday to micro businesses; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The Government have considered the case for extending the NICs holiday to all existing micro businesses but believe the best use of public funds at this time is to keep the NICs holiday as a targeted scheme for those areas in most need of employment support.

Northern Rock

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2012, Official Report, column 921W, on Northern Rock, whether any communication was given by his Department to UK Asset Resolution or UK Financial Investments Ltd prior to 5 December 2012 on the timing of the announcement on Northern Rock remediation payments; and if he will make a statement.

Sajid Javid: As specified in the answer to the parliamentary questions on 17 December 2012, Official Report, column 562W and 20 December 2012, Official Report, column 921W, the decision to remediate charges for Northern Rock Asset Management customers with Consumer Credit Act (CCA) regulated loans where the loan documentation is not compliant with CCA requirements was taken by the UKAR Board on 5 December. Ministers were made aware of the proposal on the same day. The UKAR proposal was agreed by UKFI in a letter to UKAR on 10 December. UKFI sought and was granted Treasury approval on 10 December.

PAYE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answers of 17 December 2012, Official Report, column 563W, on PAYE, for what reason the numbers provided of hashes matched in each month of the Real Time Information pilot scheme add up to approximately one million more than the number of hashes matched by 29 November 2012; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: HMRC receive a feed of hash cross references from the BACS system when the payments to the individuals' bank accounts have been finalised. Typically this can be up to six days after the related real time information (RTI) submission has been received by HMRC.
	The figure of 6,441,719 hash matches, provided on 3 December, was the number of individual RTI records that had been matched to a hash cross reference from the BACS system by 8.45 am on 29 November 2012.
	The monthly figures provided on 17 December 2012 reflected all individual RTI records, for payments made to employees in each calendar month, that had been hash matched by 13 December. Many of the hash cross references for November salary and wage payments were received from the BACS system after 8.45 am on 29 November.

PAYE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 December 2012, Official Report, column 563W, on PAYE, what estimate he has made of the number of records submitted to the PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) pilot scheme in November 2012 which contained a hash that was not matched which were not matched because hash cross references were included in RTI submissions where the employer was not paying its employees under a BACS service user number; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: HMRC are unable to provide the information requested, at this time, as analysis of hash matching is ongoing as part of the RTI pilot.

Poverty: Children

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the potential effect on child poverty measured as the number of children living in households falling below 60 per cent of median income before housing costs was of his announcement in the 2010 Budget that the Government would (a) increase the standard rate of value added tax, (b) increase the income tax personal allowance, (c) index all benefits, tax credits and public sector pensions to consumer prices index, (d) freeze council tax rates for one year, (e) introduce the personal independence payment to replace disability living allowance, (f) extend conditionality to lone parents who have a youngest child aged 5, (g) change the basis for setting local housing allowance (LHA) rates from the median to the 30th percentile of local market rents from October 2011, (h) cap LHA rates at £250 per week for a one- bedroom property, £290 per week for a two-bedroom property, £340 per week for a three-bedroom property and £400 per week for all properties with four bedrooms or more from April 2011, (i) uprate LHA rates by the consumer price index from April 2013, (j) restrict housing benefit for working age social tenants who occupy a larger property than their family size warrants, (k) freeze both rates of child benefit for three years from 2011-12, (l) reduce the tax credits second income threshold to £40,000 in 2011-12, (m) increase the first and second withdrawal rates to 41 per cent in 2011-12, (n) taper the family element of the child tax credit immediately after the child element in 2012-13, (o) remove the baby element in the child tax credit from 2011-12, (p) reverse the £4 supplement in the child tax credit for children aged one and two from 2012-13, (q) reduce the income disregard in tax credits from £25,000 to £10,000 for two years from 2011-12 then to £5,000 in 2013-14, (r) introduce an income disregard in tax credits of £2,500 for falls in income from 2012-13, (s) increase the child element of the child tax credit by £150 in 2011-12 and £60 in 2012-13 above indexation, (t) abolish the health in pregnancy grant and (u) reduce the Sure Start maternity grant.

Sajid Javid: The analysis undertaken at Budget 2010 was published in the Budget 2010 document and Annex A, available at
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/junebudget_documents.htm
	In general, HM Treasury's distributional analysis does not examine the impacts of individual policies in isolation, as it is important to take account of the impact of the tax, benefit and tax credits system as a whole.
	The Government believe looking at income in isolation is not a helpful measure to track progress towards its target of eradicating child poverty.
	The Government are currently consulting on better measures of child poverty to inform its approach to eradicate child poverty—tackling its root causes, providing high-quality education, and helping people into work through universal credit.

Poverty: Children

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the potential effect on child poverty measured as the number of children living in households falling below 60 per cent of median income before housing costs was of his announcement in the 2011 Budget that the Government would (a) increase the income tax personal allowance, (b) change the basis for indexing direct taxes to consumer prices index and (c) remove the fuel duty escalator.

Sajid Javid: The analysis undertaken at Budget 2011 was published in the Budget 2011 document and Annex A, available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/2011budget_documents.htm
	HM Treasury's distributional analysis does not examine the impacts of individual policies in isolation, as it is important to take account of the impact of the tax, benefit and tax credits system as a whole.
	The Government believe looking at income in isolation is not a helpful measure to track progress towards its target of eradicating child poverty.
	The Government are currently consulting on better measures of child poverty to inform its approach to eradicate child poverty—tackling its root causes, providing high-quality education, and helping people into work through universal credit.

Poverty: Children

Kate Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the potential effect on child poverty measured as the number of children living in households falling below 60 per cent of median income before housing costs was of his announcement in the 2011 Autumn Statement that the Government would (a) freeze the couple and lone parent elements of the Working Tax Credit in 2012-13 and reverse the planned £110 increase in the child element of child tax credit and (b) increase public sector pay by one per cent in each of the two years following the end of the pay freeze.

Sajid Javid: The analysis undertaken at autumn statement 2011 was published in the autumn statement 2011 document and supplementary document Distributional Analysis, available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/as2011_documents.htm
	HM Treasury's distributional analysis does not examine the impacts of individual policies in isolation, as it is important to take account of the impact of the tax, benefit and tax credits system as a whole.
	The Government believe looking at income in isolation is not a helpful measure to track progress towards its target of eradicating child poverty.
	The Government are currently consulting on better measures of child poverty to inform its approach to eradicate child poverty—tackling its root causes, providing high-quality education, and helping people into work through universal credit.

Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the monetary value was of contracts awarded by his Department to (a) management consultancies and (b) IT companies in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Sajid Javid: HM Treasury spend is not captured or categorised by company ‘type’. The analysis required to respond on the basis of contracts awarded to ‘management consultancies’ or ‘IT companies’ could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost to the Department.
	HM Treasury spend (excluding VAT) for consultancy services (which includes spend with management consultancies) for FYs 2010-11 and 2011-12 is £28.5 million and £15.2 million respectively.
	This information is published in the ‘HM Treasury Annual Report 2012’ (page 140) and is available on the Department's website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
	HM Treasury complies with the Cabinet Office Transparency agenda requirement for central Government Departments to publish contract awards in excess of £10,000 (excl VAT) on ‘Contracts Finder’:
	www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many procurement officers are currently employed by his Department;
	(2)  how many civil servants in his Department regularly deal with procurement services;
	(3)  how many procurement officers in his Department have relevant procurement qualifications.

Sajid Javid: HM Treasury employs six procurement personnel that deliver procurement services to the Department; all six hold relevant procurement qualifications.
	In addition, an interim specialist contractor delivers procurement services and also holds a relevant procurement qualification.
	There may be additional members of staff in the Department that hold procurement qualifications in non-designated procurement posts. However the exact number is unknown as this information is not held centrally.

Tax Avoidance: Construction

Katy Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the recently released report, “The Great Payroll Scandal” by the UCATT trades union; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the House on 12 December 2012, Official Report, column 324W.

Taxation: Children

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons spouses are classified as a non-taxable benefit for travel purposes but children are not classed as such.

David Gauke: In general there are very few circumstances in which the provision of travel to the spouse of an employee by their employer would be non-taxable. These include circumstances in which the presence of the spouse is required for the employee to perform their duties, for example where the employee requires the spouse to act as an interpreter. To obtain tax relief the employee must show that the expense of taking his or her spouse was necessarily incurred in the performance of the employee's duties.
	Payments made to an MP by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority for travel and subsistence expenses in respect of journeys between the Member's London area residence and their constituency residence by the Member's spouse or partner, with whom they share caring responsibilities for a dependent, are exempt from income tax. This exemption was introduced in 2010 to formalise a long standing concession relating to the tax treatment of travel expenses of Members of Parliament. Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2013 to formalise aspects of a similar concession as it currently applies to expenses paid to Members of the devolved Administrations.

Temporary Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amount his Department spent on interim staff as defined by the National Audit Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Sajid Javid: The Treasury spent £600,000 in 2010-11 and £632,000 in 2011-12 on interim staff to fill vacant posts in the Department that would otherwise have been occupied by salaried permanent members of staff.
	The use of interim staff falls within the scope of the civil service recruitment freeze, which was announced on 24 May 2010. Where a Treasury team identifies the need for the employment of an interim worker it must obtain ministerial approval prior to commencement of the recruitment process.
	Spending on interim staff has declined significantly since 2010. The equivalent figures for 2008-09 and 2009-10 were £2,567,000 and £2,490,000 respectively.

Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many temporary staff have been recruited in his Department in each month from July to December 2012.

Sajid Javid: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			 Month Number of staff 
			 July 3 
			 August 2 
			 September 1 
			 October 1 
			 November 1 
			 December 1 
			 Total 9 
		
	
	The data include staff recruited on fixed term contracts of less than 12 months and agency temporary staff.

VAT

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many new VAT registration numbers were issued in (a) 2012 and (b) each of the last five calendar years;
	(2)  how many VAT registrations have been ended in (a) 2012 and (b) each of the last five calendar years.

David Gauke: The numbers of new VAT registrations and de-registrations are available in sheet 5 of the HMRC VAT Bulletin which is at:
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/Tax%20and%20Duty%20Bulletins/VAT_1112.xls

VAT

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time from request to issuing of a new VAT registration number is; and what the average time for issuing such numbers was, at the calendar year end, in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: The following table shows the average length of time taken time to process applications to register for VAT:
	
		
			 Calendar year Days 
			 2012(1) 11 
			 2011 13 
			 2010 19 
			 2009(2) 22 
			 (1) January to October only (2) April to December only

VAT

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints his Department has received on VAT registration certificates in (a) 2012 and (b) each of the last five years.

David Gauke: HMRC is responsible for processing applications to register for VAT and has received the following numbers of complaints in relation to VAT registration.
	
		
			 Calendar year Number 
			 2012(1) 103 
			 2011 280 
			 2010 370 
			 2009 225 
			 2008 244 
			 2007 982 
			 (1) January to November only

VAT

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to speed up the issuing of VAT registration certificates to businesses.

David Gauke: HMRC has automated the VAT registration process from October 2012.
	All businesses are now able to go online to obtain a VAT registration number and notify most variations to their registration details (such as change of address or to de-register) online.
	All businesses applying online will be informed of the status of their application by way of a secure message sent to their online account.
	By cutting out the time for postal delivery, the majority of businesses using the online channel should receive their VAT registration numbers four to six days quicker than prior to the automation.

VAT

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much additional revenue was received by the Exchequer as a result of the 2.5 per cent increase in rates of VAT between May 2010 and May 2012.

David Gauke: The standard rate of VAT increased from 17.5% to 20% on 4 January 2011. At Budget 2010 the rate increase was expected to raise approximately £17 billion over the 17 months between January 2011 and May 2012.

Welfare Tax Credits

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what evidence on child care costs tax credit claimants will be required to provide to HM Revenue and Customs under the proposal set out in his autumn statement 2012; and what estimate he has made of the number of people who will be affected by that proposal.

Sajid Javid: HMRC are yet to decide precisely what evidence they will require claimants to provide to support their claims for child care costs and will be consulting appropriate representative bodies before making a final decision.
	HMRC have estimated that the proposal will affect around 80,000 families a year.

Welfare Tax Credits

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average cost of calls made to the tax credit helpline was in each of the last three years.

Sajid Javid: HMRC does not hold the information to provide the average costs of calls to the tax credit line over the last three years.
	The cost of calling HMRC is dependent on several factors. Calls are charged to the customer based on the tariff arrangements they have with their service provider, the device they use for the call and the location from which they call.
	HMRC's tax credit helpline can now be accessed using an 0345 number. This results in cheaper calls for customers calling from mobile phones in comparison to the previous 0845 number.

Welfare Tax Credits

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many calls were received by the tax credit helpline was in each of the last three years.

Sajid Javid: HMRC records a range of call handling data. The following table shows both the total number of call attempts received and the number of callers, which measures underlying customer demand for the tax credit helpline in the last three years:
	
		
			 Tax credits helpline 
			  Number of call attempts(1) (millions) Callers(2) (millions) 
			 2011-12 30 20 
			 2010-11 63 26 
		
	
	
		
			 2009-10 31 22 
			 (1 )Calls attempts—The number of attempts (including redials) made to contact the Tax Credit Helpline. (2) The number of individual callers telephoning on each individual day aggregated over the period. 
		
	
	The increased call attempts in 2010-11 are linked to reduced call handling performance, leading to callers frequently using the redial facility on their telephones, which affected the volume of call attempts.
	HMRC's analysis of these data showed that customer demand levels have remained relatively constant over the last three years and redial ranges returned to normal levels in 2011-12.

Working Tax Credit

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average length of time was between an eligible applicant's working tax credit claim form being received and the applicant receiving the support to which they were entitled for each of the last three years.

Sajid Javid: The average time taken to process a new claim for tax credits for the last three years is as follows:
	
		
			  Days 
			 2009-10 19.7 
			 2010-11 24.0 
			 2011-12 25.2 
		
	
	We cannot break down processing times specifically for working tax credit in the manner requested. The average processing times therefore cover all tax credit claims made (working tax credit and child tax credit inclusive).
	The key driver for the increase in time taken to process a new claim was the increased intensity of upfront compliance checks to reduce the level of error and fraud in the system. Moving from a strategy of ‘check now pay later’ to ‘check now then pay’ came with heavily increased levels of pre-payment interventions and checks which added to the processing time.

Working Tax Credit

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons working tax credit claim forms are not available for download from the gov.uk website.

Sajid Javid: As part of HMRC's measures to prevent fraudulent claims for tax credits, claim forms are only available by telephoning the tax credit helpline, where callers are required to pass basic identity checks. Claim forms are also available through a small number of trusted third party organisations, where similar checks assure forms are only provided to genuine customers.

Working Tax Credit

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average length of time was between an eligible applicant requesting a working tax credit claim form via the tax credit helpline and the receipt of their working tax credit form in each of the last three years.

Sajid Javid: This information is not available in the format requested. HMRC aim to send out a claim pack to customers within 48 hours of the request.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Access to Work Programme

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what funding his Department allocated to publicising the Access to Work programme in 2011-12; and what funding will be allocated to publicising that programme in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14.

Mark Hoban: I am unable to provide the funding allocation set aside for publicising the Access to Work programme across all financial years within this spending review, because funding allocations are indicative for business planning purposes, and are subject to change.
	For 2011-12 we are unable to separately determine the publicity spend on the Access to Work programme.
	There is a ministerial ban on local publicity, however for 2012-13 there has been an Exemption Request approved for external publicity with a value of £55,000 and this was for Access to Work publicity (to cover online marketing, events ad production of marketing material).
	For future years it would be impossible to give a value as budgets are being reviewed in light of the challenge from the autumn statement.

Charities

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on which active projects his Department receives advice from UK registered charities.

Mark Hoban: The Department routinely consults other organisations during the policy development process, either formally or informally. This will often involve voluntary sector organisations since they play a key part in the delivery of services, and an important representational role on behalf of specific groups of claimants.

Child Poverty

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of children living in households with no adult in work in (a) each London borough and (b) the UK are (i) in single parent households, (ii) in a household with at least one parent claiming employment and support allowance and (iii) in a household with at least one adult on jobseeker's allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Information is not available for each London borough, but is available for London and the UK.
	(a) The proportion of children living in households with no adult in work in London:
	(i) in single adult households is 53%
	(ii) with at least one adult in receipt of ESA is 5%
	(iii) with at least one adult in receipt of JSA is 19%
	(b) The proportion of children living in households with no adult in work in the UK:
	(i) in single adult households is 59%
	(ii) with at least one adult in receipt of ESA is 6%
	(iii) with at least one adult in receipt of JSA is 18%
	Notes:
	1. The Family Resources Survey is a nationally representative sample of UK households. Data for 2010-11 was collected between April 2010 and March 2011.
	2. The figures from the Family Resources Survey are based on a sample of households which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the Family Resources Survey to former Government office region population by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-response error.
	3. Relative to administrative records, the Family Resources Survey is known to under-report benefit receipt so estimates should be treated with caution. Please see table M6 the within the Family Resources Survey publication Methodology chapter found at
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/frs/2010_11/chapter9.pdf
	for more details.
	4. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest 1%.
	5. Definitions:
	Household—A single person or group of people living at the same address as their only or main residence, who either share one meal a day together or share the living accommodation (ie a living room). A household will consist of one or more benefit units.
	Adult—All those individuals who are aged 16 and over, unless defined as a dependent child (see Child); all adults in the household are interviewed as part of the Family Resources Survey.
	Child—A dependent child is defined as an individual aged under 16. A person will also be defined as a child if they are 16 to 19 years old and they are:
	Not married nor in a Civil Partnership nor living with a partner; and
	Living with parents; and
	In full-time non-advanced education or in unwaged government training.
	In-work—Includes employees and those that are self-employed—both full-time and part-time. Based on self-assessment for the main job rather than number of hours worked; includes those doing unpaid work in their own business.
	In receipt of employment and support allowance (ESA)/jobseeker's allowance(JSA)—A household has been defined as in receipt of ESA/JSA if at least one adult within the household is in receipt of ESA/JSA.
	Source:
	Family Resources Survey 2010-11

Child Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation study on the impact of child poverty on gross domestic product.

Esther McVey: The Government welcome all contributions to the child poverty debate and work which adds to our understanding of the causes and consequences of child poverty. The Government are determined to eradicate the problem by tackling its root causes, including worklessness, educational failure and family breakdown.
	Universal credit will improve work incentives as well as refocusing entitlements on lower-income in-work households, and removing the complexity that stands in the way of people taking up their current benefit and tax credit entitlements. Over 2 million people will be lifted out of income tax altogether by the announced raises to the personal allowance. We are giving more nursery and pre-school provision, ensuring that 260,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds receive 15 hours a week free childcare. We are investing in education, including £2.5 billion for the pupil premium and £1.2 billion for capital investment in schools.

Comet Group

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that specialists from Jobcentre Plus work with Comet employees in Chesterfield whose jobs are threatened by the company's closure for the purposes of providing advice on re-training and re-employment.

Mark Hoban: Jobcentre are working closely with both Deloitte, the appointed administrator, and Comet to ensure employees facing redundancy receive the best possible support through this difficult time. All locations including Chesterfield have been contacted by Jobcentre Plus and received an offer of support and discussions are now under way with Comet store managers to agree a suitable approach at local level. In addition we have agreed with Deloitte that all employees under threat of redundancy will receive the Rapid Response Employee fact sheet, along with a jobsearch resource pack, which will help them consider how to prepare and look for work.

Employment Agencies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total spending on recruitment agencies by his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Mark Hoban: Spend on recruitment agencies in the period requested was nil.

Employment and Support Allowance

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many doctors were employed on a (a) full-time and (b) part-time basis to conduct medical examinations of claimants for employment and support allowance in each of the last four years.

Mark Hoban: Atos Healthcare utilises registered and fully trained doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. All are approved by the DWP chief medical adviser to undertake work capability assessments in respect of employment and support allowance (ESA) claims.
	The number of permanently employed doctors working on a full-time or part-time basis to conduct ESA work capability assessments, as recorded by Atos Healthcare, in each of the last four years is as follows:
	
		
			  Number employed full-time Number employed part-time 
			 2012 146 50 
			 2011 161 53 
			 2010 162 53 
			 2009 136 45 
		
	
	In 2012 some of the turnover of doctors was compensated for by recruitment of more nurses and physiotherapists.

Employment and Support Allowance

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employment and support allowance recipients in each Government region experienced (a) mental and behavioural and (b) physical disorders in each of the last four years, by type of disorder.

Mark Hoban: Statistics on the number of Employment and Support Allowance recipients in each Government region who experienced (a) mental and behavioural and (b) physical disorders in each of the last four years, by type of disorder and region, can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool
	Guidance for users is available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf

Employment and Support Allowance

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employment and support allowance claimants failed a personal capability assessment in each of the last four years.

Mark Hoban: Information on the number of employment and support allowance claimants who failed a Work Capability Assessment can be found at:
	http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/esa_wca/esa_wca_oct2012_tables.xls

Employment Schemes: Young People

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Croydon Central of 10 September 2012, Official Report, column 85W, on youth unemployment: London, on what date he expects to publish the first statistical release outlining the number of job outcomes for participants of the Day 1 Support for Young People Trailblazer.

Mark Hoban: The decision has not yet been taken on when to publish statistics. The Department works to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.

Employment Schemes: Young People

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Croydon Central of 10 September 2012, Official Report, column 85W, on youth unemployment: London, how many participants in the Day 1 Support for Young People Trailblazer there had been in each authority area by 7 December 2012.

Mark Hoban: The information requested is not currently available. The Department works to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.

EU Law

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which EU directives his Department transposed in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which EU directives his Department expects to transpose in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such directive to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Mark Hoban: A table containing details of the EU directives my Department transposed in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which EU directives my Department expects to transpose in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate we have made of the cost of each such directive to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector will be placed in the Library.

EU Law

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which regulations his Department introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which regulations his Department expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Mark Hoban: A table containing details of the regulations my Department introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which regulations my Department expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate we have made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector will be placed in the Library.

Food Banks

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the criteria are for eligibility to make use of food banks.

Mark Hoban: The Department does not set the eligibility criteria for the use of food banks; this is a decision for individual food banks.

Food Banks

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of how many families with dependent children are reliant, in some degree, on food banks.

Mark Hoban: DWP does not collate or hold numbers on the usage of food banks.

Food Banks

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what Government support is made available to food banks.

David Heath: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	The Government do not provide any support to specific food banks. However, we recognise the good work of organisations that redistribute surplus food to help reduce food poverty, to assist the homeless and to provide access to nutritional meals to those who may otherwise struggle. In 2012 DEFRA held a round table with retailers and food distribution charities to explore the barriers to redistribution, building upon the partnerships most major retailers already have with redistribution charities.

Future Jobs Fund

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the results of the Future Jobs Fund were for each constituency in the UK in each year for which data are available.

Mark Hoban: DWP does not hold information on the results of the Future Jobs Fund for each constituency in the UK. However, it has published official statistics on Future Jobs Fund participant outcomes at a regional level (which may be found here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/jsa/ypg/ypg_fjf_annexe_apr2012.pdf
	and a national evaluation of the impacts of the Future Jobs Fund (which may be found here:
	http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2012/impacts_costs_benefits_fjf.pdf
	It is not possible to replicate the results of the Future Jobs Fund impact analysis for each constituency in the UK, largely because of insufficient sample sizes at this geographical level.

Hepatic Angiosarcoma

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will classify hepatic angiosarcoma caused by exposure to vinyl chloride on the same basis as mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos.

Esther McVey: Diseases that attract payment under the Industrial Injuries Scheme can only be prescribed if they meet the statutory requirements set out in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.
	Both angiosarcoma of the liver from occupational exposure to vinyl chloride monomer in the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride and mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos are classified as prescribed diseases. Employed earners who contract either of these diseases through their work are able to make a claim for industrial injuries benefits.
	On the basis of advice from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, and because of the nature and short- term prognosis of mesothelioma, legislation is in place in respect of this disease so claimants are automatically assessed as being 100% disabled and the usual 90-day waiting rule for industrial injuries disablement benefit is waived. There are no current plans to extend the legislation.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions the HM Courts and Tribunal Service Social Security and Child Support Appeals Centre has failed to meet its targets in respect of response letters in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mark Hoban: The information requested is not held by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Jobseeker’s Allowance: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants were in receipt of jobseeker's allowance or equivalent benefit for more than (a) six, (b) 12 and (c) 18 months in each quarter in the Peterborough city council area since 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Statistics on how many claimants were in receipt of jobseeker's allowance or equivalent benefit for more than (a) six, (b) 12 and (c) 18 months in each quarter in the Peterborough city council area since 2010 are given in the following table:
	
		
			 Peterborough 
			  Over 13 and up to 26 weeks Over 39 and up to 52 weeks Over 65 and up to 78 weeks 
			 2010    
			 January 1,460 540 190 
			 April 1,120 480 220 
			 July 1,075 485 275 
			 October 810 310 210 
			     
			 2011    
			 January 1,010 285 220 
			 April 1,320 280 140 
			 July 1,410 395 135 
			 October 1,150 535 145 
			     
			 2012    
			 January 1,075 565 210 
			 April 1,435 510 310 
			 July 1,215 525 370 
			 October 1,105 595 290 
			 Note: Data rounded to nearest five. 
		
	
	This and other similar information can be found at nomis:
	https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Medical Records: Data Protection

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how consent is sought for mail containing sensitive and confidential medical data to be opened and handled by a third party when it is sent to (a) his Department and (b) Atos Healthcare; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: There are relevant statutory provisions governing the jurisdiction of my Department in various Acts. Additionally there are Statutory Instruments which regulate how the Department operates under the Acts.
	My Department does not seek consent for opening mail containing sensitive and medical data in pursuant of its administrative responsibilities. Atos Healthcare has responsibility for conducting assessments and providing advice to my Department in support of claims or re-assessment for specific benefits. It is standard for evidence to be submitted in the form of a medical record and for Atos to review any available evidence when conducting assessments. Atos Healthcare is under contract and is directly accountable to the Department.
	The Department complies with responsibilities laid down under the Data Protection Act 1998 (“Act”) and publishes guidance on:
	www.dwp.gov.uk
	called “DWP-your-personal-information”.
	The Department has long standing safeguards within the administration process. Most notably a third-party organisation can only be authorised to open and handle mail when under a contract. The contract sets out additional provisions for which the third party organisation is accountable for secure handling of sensitive and confidential information and this is governed by the Department's Security. Any person involved in opening and handling post are bound by Confidentiality Agreements including the Official Secrets Act, whether employed directly by the Department or employed by a third party.

New Enterprise Allowance: Lancashire

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Pendle constituency and (b) Lancashire are currently in receipt of the new enterprise allowance.

Mark Hoban: In Pendle there were 40 mentor starts and 20 weekly allowance starts for the period April 2011 up to and including May 2012.
	We do not routinely collect data at county level, the information requested for Lancashire is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will consider providing additional financial support to disability charities for the purposes of managing any additional workload as a result of the transfer to personal independence payments.

Esther McVey: We will not provide any additional financial support as we do not believe that disability charities will have to manage additional work loads.
	We will continue to work with disability charities to support them with their preparations for the introduction of personal independence payment. We will also continue to support Disabled People's User Led Organisations (DPULO) in order for them to become stronger more sustainable organisations through our DPULO programme.

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total amount of redundancy pay paid to civil servants in his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Mark Hoban: The information you requested is in the following table:
	
		
			 2012 
			 £ 
			  July August September October November December 
			 Compulsory redundancy — 45,588 — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 Voluntary redundancy — 119,759 — 41,823 163 — 
			 Voluntary exit 3,148,615 234,934 139,627 353,019 — 427 
			 Total 3,148,615 400,280 139,627 394,843 163 427 
			 Note: The small balances in November and December relate to corrections made to previous redundancy payments.

Remploy

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what occasions Ministers in his Department have met with trades union consortium officers on the closure of Remploy sites.

Esther McVey: I have had contact with representatives from the Remploy trade unions in face-to-face meetings, stakeholder events and through correspondence. I have listened and responded to their views and opinions on the progress of the Stage 1 process, as I have done with other stakeholders.

Remploy

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which (a) contracts, (b) buildings, (c) plant and machinery, (d) equipment and (e) other assets of Remploy Abertillery have been sold.

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham) on 20 December 2012, Official Report, column 935W.

Social Security Benefits

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of claims for benefits are paid out (a) within 16 days following receipt of the claim and (b) after 16 days following receipt of the claim.

Mark Hoban: The latest information available is for April to November 2012 and is outlined in the following table.
	For JSA and ESA we can give the percentage of claims cleared within 16 days.
	For income support, data are not collected at 16 days. The nearest available measure is percentage of claims cleared within 13 days.
	
		
			 Benefit April to November 2012 (Percentage) 
			 JSA Claims percentage cleared in 16 days 85.7 
			 ESA Claims percentage cleared in 16 days 82.6 
			 IS Claims percentage cleared in 13 days 89.8 
			 Source: MISP 
		
	
	Clearance times reflect the end point at which claims are cleared and notification issued to customer. This may not be the date of first payment in every case (for example a claim may be cleared before the first payment is due or customers may not be entitled to benefit payments, e.g. JSA credits only customers).
	The date of payment is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate costs.

Social Security Benefits: Barnsley

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Barnsley Central constituency will be affected by planned changes to (a) disability living allowance, (b) under-occupancy rules in social housing, (c) the benefit cap, (d) council tax benefit and (e) the social fund.

Steve Webb: The information is as follows:
	(a) The available information on personal independence payment (PIP) is published in the Reassessments and Impacts briefing note. This can be found on the Department's website at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pip-reassessments-and-impacts.pdf
	Information on current disability living allowance caseloads at a parliamentary constituency level can also be found on the Department's website at:
	http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html
	(b) No estimates are available for the social sector under-occupancy measure at parliamentary constituency level. Regional estimates of impacts are provided in the impact assessment at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/social-sector-housing-under-occupation-wr2011-ia.pdf
	(c) A table showing the parliamentary constituency breakdown of those affected by the benefit cap has been placed in the Library and can be found at:
	http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2012-1587/LibraryDocument125527.pdf
	The figures presented above are consistent with the recent impact assessment published on 16 July 2012. In making these estimates we assume that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme to move as many into work as possible. Therefore, please note that these figures are subject to change prior to the policy being implemented in April 2013.
	(d) Estimates of how many people will be affected by the change from council tax benefit to localised support are not available at a parliamentary constituency level. The number of people affected will depend on the decisions by local authorities about the design of their schemes.
	(e) We do not have any estimates on how many people will be affected by the social fund reforms that are due to take effect from April 2013 at a parliamentary constituency level.
	As part of the reforms some social fund discretionary payments will be abolished. Funding is being provided for new and better targeted local provision through local authorities in England, and through arrangements made by the Scottish and Welsh Governments. The local provision will be tailored to local circumstance and integrated with other local support services. Local authorities in England are currently finalising the design of their own local schemes including eligibility criteria. This means we are unable to provide any estimates of how many people will be eligible under each local authority scheme.
	In addition universal credit will provide a better service, of payments on account, supporting many people in need of short and longer term credit facilities. These necessary reforms simplify the current complex, poorly targeted and remote system, and ensure that support is focused on those who really need it.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the level of (a) customer error and (b) fraudulently claimed overpayment was in claims for (i) pensions credit, (ii) jobseeker's allowance and (iii) income support due to the incorrect declaration of (A) full-time earnings, (B) part-time earnings, (C) partner earnings, (D) capital, (E) dependants, (F) income, (G) a partner, (H) identification, (I) address, (J) housing costs, (K) other benefits, (L) college, (M) hospitalisation, (N) maintenance payments, (O) non-dependants, (P) a prison stay and (Q) other reasons in each of the last four years.

Mark Hoban: The information will be placed in the Library.
	The information is not available in the format requested for categories C, H and N. Such information as is available for category C is included in the tables under categories A and B; category N is included in the tables under category F.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he received in 2012 from the Australian Government on frozen state pensions for expatriate pensioners now living in that country.

Steve Webb: Issues relating to UK pensioners in Australia were discussed with representatives of the Australian Government on several occasions in 2012.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many expatriate pensioners do not receive an annual uprating of their UK state pension.

Steve Webb: Data on the number of pensioners residing in countries outside the EEA with which the UK does not have a bilateral agreement covering up-rating can be found at:
	http://83.244.183.180/5pc/sp/cccntry/ccsex/a_stock_r_cccntry_c_ccsex_sep11.html
	Such pensioners are classified as “overseas frozen” in the dataset.
	Guidance for users is available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf
	Note:
	The data are based on the country of residence at September 2011. The numbers quoted include people who are temporarily resident in an "overseas frozen" country who would be eligible for up-rates because they remain ordinarily resident in Great Britain.

Unemployment

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were classed as underemployed in (a) Glasgow North West constituency, (b) Glasgow, (c) Scotland and (d) the UK in (i) 2009, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011 and (iv) 2012.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated January 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many workers were classed as underemployed in (a) Glasgow North West constituency, (b) Glasgow, (c) Scotland and (d) the UK in (i) 2009, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011 and (iv) 2012. 135965
	Time-related underemployment is defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as occurring where the number of hours of work for an employed person is insufficient, and that the person is willing to engage in more work and is not already working more than a specified number of hours.
	Based on the ILO definition and the data available, employed people (aged 16 or over) are classified as underemployed if:
	they are willing to work more hours because they want an additional job, a replacement job with longer hours, or want more hours in their current job
	they are available to start working longer hours within 2 weeks and
	the hours they worked in the reference week did not exceed 40 hours (if they are under 18 years of age) or 48 hours (if they are over 18 years of age).
	Estimates for the number of underemployed workers are available from the Annual Population Survey (APS). They are available for the datasets that cover the year October to September, for example the estimates for 2009 are based on the dataset that covers the year from October 2008 to September 2009.
	The estimates are supplied in the table.
	It is not possible to provide reliable estimates of the number of underemployed workers in the Glasgow North West constituency due to small sample sizes.
	The estimates are derived from the APS and are not seasonally adjusted. As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		
			 Number of underemployed workers(1) in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012(2) for Glasgow, Scotland and the UK 
			 Thousand 
			  2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Glasgow City 24 29 28 29 
			 Scotland 198 228 232 245 
		
	
	
		
			 UK 2,383 2,622 2,642 2,876 
			 (1) Underemployed workers are those people over 16, in employment and wishing to work more hours, either in their current job, in a replacement job or in an additional job. They must also be working under 40 hours a week if they are between 16 and 18 and under 48 hours a week if they are over 18. Finally they must be able to start working longer hours within the two weeks following the survey. (2) The data for each year run from the October in the previous year to the September of the named year, e.g. the 2012 estimates are based on data from October 2011 to September 2012. Source: APS person datasets

Universal Credit

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of the number of people in each parliamentary constituency who will receive less in universal credit than they receive currently in welfare payments.

Mark Hoban: The information requested is not available.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how the Universal Credit system will handle a statement of an employee's earnings in a given period, obtained from the employer in a PAYE real-time information (RTI) submission, where the hash in the RTI submission cannot subsequently be matched by HM Revenue and Customs; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: The universal credit system will calculate individual payments based on information received from employers and earnings reported by the claimant where RTI is not available. For any individual universal credit claimant, the lack of a matching cross reference, where one would be expected, will be just one of a number of factors taken into account in assessing whether checks need to be made into any particular claim.

Work Programme

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding his Department has provided to Work Programme providers in (a) St Helens South and Whiston constituency, (b) Merseyside, (c) the North West and (d) the UK to date.

Mark Hoban: The total paid to Work programme providers in the UK is £337.9 million from the start of the programme through to 30 July 2012, i.e. the period covered by the statistical release. Due to commercial in confidence considerations we are not able to release financial data below the national level at this time.

Work Programme

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employment advisors work as part of the Work programme; and how many such advisors have received training in assisting (a) those with (i) mental health difficulties and (ii) physical disabilities and (b) lone parents.

Mark Hoban: The Department does not hold information on the number of employment advisers employed by Work programme providers, or information on the numbers receiving different types of training.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Banks: Assets

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the statement in the Financial Stability Report published by the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England in November 2012, that current accounting standards permit the overvaluing of bank assets; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The Financial Stability Report acknowledges that the need to revise international accounting standards to improve the approaches taken to determining provisions for losses on loans has been recognised. The Government continue to press the International Accounting Standards Board and the European Commission to prioritise the development and agreement of an improved standard for use within the European Union.

Consumer Information

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which companies have signed up to the midata initiative.

Jo Swinson: The Department issued a list of businesses that have formally agreed to work towards the midata principles on 3 November 2011. Those agreeing to be involved were:
	Avoco Secure
	Billmonitor;
	British Gas;
	Callcredit;
	EDF Energy;
	E.ON;
	Garlik;
	Google;
	Lloyds Banking Group;
	MasterCard;
	Moneysupermarket.com;
	Mydex;
	Npower;
	RBS;
	Scottish Power;
	Scottish Southern Energy;
	The UK Cards Association;
	Three;
	Visa.
	Since then we have worked with other businesses on midata to promote the voluntary release of data to their customers in an electronic format. We plan to review the progress of the voluntary programme in the summer.

Redundancy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's Executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year.

Jo Swinson: I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service, Companies House, the National Measurement Office, the Intellectual Property Office, UK Space Agency, Ordnance Survey, Met Office, Land Registry and the Skills Funding Agency and they will respond to the hon. Member directly.
	This Department does not hold this information centrally regarding its non-departmental public bodies and it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Letter from Emma Lord
	Thank you for your question addressed to the Minister of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, asking how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year. (135475)
	The UK Space Agency became an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 1 April 2011. The answer to the question is that no posts have been declared redundant since then.
	Letter from Paul McGuire, dated 7 January 2013
	In response to the above Parliamentary question requesting information on the numbers and costs of redundancies, please find as follows the information for the Skills Funding Agency since its inception in 2010:
	Year 2010/2011
	225 redundancies costing £12,643,000
	Year 2011/2012
	427 redundancies costing £13,110,000
	Letter from Richard Judge, dated 7 January 2013
	The Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills has asked me to reply to your question how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year.
	The Insolvency Service has not declared any posts redundant since 1999.
	However, there have been a number of departures under voluntary exit schemes based on the terms of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme which were open to all of The Service's staff.
	In 2010-11 The Service's Voluntary Early Retirement/Voluntary Exit Scheme resulted in costs of £17,257K and the total number of exit packages was 470. In 2011-12 The Service's Voluntary Early Retirement/Voluntary Exit Scheme resulted in costs of £1,701K and the total number of exit packages was 67.
	When an Insolvency Service role ends employees are given the opportunity for redeployment before a paid exit is considered.
	Letter from Tim Moss, dated 3 January 2013
	I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 19 December 2012, to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, UIN 135475.
	Companies House has declared a total of three posts redundant during the prescribed period with two in 2011 and the other in 2012. The costs of those redundancies totalled £108,409.23 in 2011 and £40,788.28 in 2012.
	Letter from Peter Mason, dated 7 January 2013
	I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office (formerly the National Weights and Measures Laboratory) to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 19 December 2012, asking the Secretary of State of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills about the number of posts declared redundant in the Department's executive agencies in each year since 1999 and the cost of those redundancies.
	There have been two occasions since 1999 where former staff of this Agency have received redundancy payments as a result of their post being declared redundant—one in the financial year 2007/08 and one in the financial year 2008/09. I am not able to disclose the amounts of compensation paid for reasons of the Data Protection Act, but I can say that in both cases compensation equivalent to the statutory minimum entitlement was paid.
	Letter from David Evans, dated 7 January 2013
	On 19 December 2012 you tabled the following parliamentary question;
	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year.
	The following table shows the figures requested. We had no redundancies until 2008/9. For clarification, we have taken the number of posts to mean FTE posts. There are two sets of figures as follows. The first relates to in year redundancy costs. The second is the total costs for those staff aged between 50 and 60 leaving under early retirement terms. These costs are estimates because they will need to be adjusted for future inflation.
	
		
			 Financial year Posts (FTEs) Redundancy cost incurred during the year (£ million) Total cost of those redundancies (£ million) 
			 2008/09 259.6 5.89 16.81 
			 2009/10 866.2 47.98 59.04 
			 2010/11 701.8 43.68 61.11 
			 2011/12 512.9 36.40 32.80 
			 Total 2,340.5 133.95 169.76 
		
	
	I hope the information provided is useful.
	Letter from Sean Dennehey, dated 8 January 2013
	I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 19th December 2012, to the Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The Intellectual Property Office has had a number of voluntary severance or surplus schemes in this period as it looks to ensure it retains the right skills mix despite changing technology and demand. Surplus staff are moved within the Office or the wider civil service in line with Civil Service protocols. The amounts shown are the total cost of the departure charged to the Office, without any discounting, when the decision is made. Earlier years are not available without disproportionate effort.
	
		
			  Number £000 
			 2011/12 17 460 
			 2010/11 1 8 
			 2009/10 16 1,710 
			 2008/09 101 7,653 
			 2007/08 1 55 
			 2006/07 0 0 
			 2005/06 53 2,571 
			 2004/05 0 0 
			 2003/04 0 0 
			 2002/03 1 267 
		
	
	Letter from John Hirst, dated 8 January 2013
	I am replying on behalf of the Met Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 19 December 2012, UIN 135475 to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Data on the number and cost of redundancies and other paid exits from 2009-10 are provided in the following table. Prior to 2009-10 the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Number of compulsory redundancies Number of other departures agreed Total payments (£) 
			 2009-10 0 10 382,000 
			 2010-11 6 8 784,000 
			 2011-12 4 46 2,844,000 
		
	
	Letter from Vanessa Lawrence, dated 8 January 2013
	As Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey, I have been asked to reply to you in response to your Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills "how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year".
	The following table shows the number of Civil Servants who have left Ordnance Survey via a redundancy or early retirement process for the period April 2002 to January 2013. Figures for the period 1999 to 2002 are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Number of redundancies Early retirement costs in year (£000) 
			 April 2002 to March 2003 355 38,182 
			 April 2003 to March 2004 15 2,622 
			 April 2004 to March 2005 31 960 
			 April 2005 to March 2006 45 2,892 
			 April 2006 to March 2007 7 477 
			 April 2007 to March 2008 6 796 
			 April 2008 to March 2009 10 936 
			 April 2009 to March 2010 194 18,295 
			 April 2010 to March 2011 40 3,052 
			 April 2011 to March 2012 11 422 
			 April 2012 to January 2013 9 272 
		
	
	Provision for voluntary release costs are incurred in the financial year that agreement is reached, however the actual date of leaving the organisation may occur in the following financial year.
	The average pay-out made each year fluctuates significantly owing to various factors including the numbers, ages, seniority and length of service of those leaving, as well as the Civil Service Compensation Scheme in operation at the time of departure.
	I hope this information is of use.

Redundancy

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in how many cases of collective redundancy the duration of the consultation undertaken by the employer was (a) 45 days or fewer, (b) 90 days or fewer and (c) more than 90 days in the last three years.

Jo Swinson: The Government do not have sufficient information to answer this question, for the following reasons.
	Although employers proposing to make collective redundancies have a duty to notify the Secretary of State in advance, they are not required to inform him of when their consultation closes.
	The Government conducted a call for evidence on the current collective redundancy regime from November 2011 to January 2012. Following this, the Government consulted on a package of reforms from June to September 2012. On both occasions, the Government asked for data on how long it took to reach agreement in collective redundancy consultations. However, on neither occasion did many directly answer the question. For those that did, the indication was that timescales ranged from 14 days to six months.

Redundancy

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the Government response on changes to the rules on collective redundancies, what steps he plans to take to encourage employers to extend consultation beyond the minimum 45 day period where necessary; and when he plans to review the impact of any changes.

Jo Swinson: The call for evidence and consultation that Government have carried out on the current collective redundancy regime showed that consultations can and do last longer than the minimum period and we expect that to continue where circumstances make this appropriate. In addition, I have asked the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to work with stakeholders to produce new non-statutory guidance that will promote best practice for good quality consultation and engagement between employers and employees. This will emphasise the need for meaningful consultation.
	The Government will introduce the new 45-day period in April. We will review the operation and impact of the shorter statutory period on the labour market once we have had time to see its full effect.

River Severn

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2012, Official Report, column 461W, on River Severn, whether public funds have been provided to (a) Cardiff Metropolitan university and (b) Cardiff university for research and promotional activities relating to the Severn barrage since October 2010.

David Willetts: Neither the Research Councils nor Technology Strategy Board have funded work on the Severn Barrage; although we are unable to tell if research funded by the councils and performed within Cardiff Metropolitan or Cardiff university relates indirectly to elements of the Severn Barrage study.

Students: Finance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the future of the 19 to 25 Learning Entitlement Grant; and if he will make a statement.

Matthew Hancock: The ‘Skills Funding Statement 2012-2015’, published on 6 December 2012, sets out the eligibility for funding for learners aged 19 and over. Details can be found in the table on page 7 of the statement at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/further-education-skills/docs/s/12-p172-skills-funding-statement-2012-2015.pdf

Training: Veterans

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what support the Government are providing to former army personnel to retrain for civilian roles within and outside the armed forces.

Matthew Hancock: This Department works with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to prepare army personnel for civilian life.
	MOD has a significant programme of activity to help army personnel make the transition to life and work outside the forces. The Career Transition Partnership provides a resettlement service to eligible service leavers that helps personnel make a successful transition to civilian employment in a suitable second career appropriate to their skills, knowledge, experience and aspirations. Those who have completed six years service or more are entitled to an individual resettlement training costs grant to help meet the costs of training during resettlement. Access is also provided to training that translates skills developed in the armed forces into equivalent civilian qualifications.
	The adult skills budget, with its significant flexibilities for colleges and further education providers, supports skills provision for adults in general. Two specific schemes support army personnel in preparing for civilian roles after leaving the forces.
	The Service Leavers scheme pays the tuition fees for certain service leavers to gain a first full Level 3 qualification or a first higher education qualification, up to and including a first degree.
	Support for those ex-service personnel who wish to start up in business, or need support in the early days of a new business, is provided through the Be the Boss scheme, set up with £5 million of funding from this Department. Be the Boss is run by the Royal British Legion and has successfully funded 194 businesses with 1,946 ex-service personnel now preparing to set themselves up in business.

EDUCATION

Bellerbys College

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what reports he has received on allegations of falsification of exam results at Bellerbys Colleges; and what steps he proposes to take to investigate such allegations. [Official Report, 25 April 2013, Vol. 561, c. 7MC.]

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education has received no reports or representations regarding alleged exam malpractice involving Bellerbys Colleges.
	The Department for Education and Ofqual, the independent regulator for qualifications and examinations, take allegations of exam malpractice very seriously. Responsibility for investigating allegations of malpractice and issuing penalties (where appropriate), for any candidate or exam centre, is a matter for exam boards.

Bright Futures

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what relationship the Bright Futures educational organisation has with his Department; what role it plays in respect of the Department's operations; and where it is located in the Department's structure;
	(2)  what role in respect of his Department (a) Dana Ross and (b) Jerry Andrews have at the Bright Futures educational organisation; how much each receives from public funds; and by whom each is paid.

Elizabeth Truss: Bright Futures is an approved sponsor and was established in August 2011. The Trust is led by Dana Ross-Warwzynski, the executive head teacher of Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, and currently sponsors Cedar Mount Academy, Gorton Mount Primary Academy and Stanley Grove Primary Academy. All schools sponsored by Bright Futures are in the area of East Manchester.
	Sponsors make a huge contribution to Academies, bringing drive, expertise and capacity as well as experience from a wide variety of backgrounds and sectors. Sponsors play a pivotal role in turning round and improving the life chances of pupils in some of the most disadvantaged and under-performing schools in the country.
	Bright Futures is not located within the Department's structures.
	Dana Ross-Warwzynski is the chief executive officer and executive head teacher of the Bright Futures Education Trust. We do not hold information on Jerry Andrews.
	The Trust receives funding from the Education Funding Agency. The use and allocation of these funds, including the payments they make to their employees, is a matter for each Trust. Academy Trusts are charitable companies and are required to file their accounts with Companies House, through which they are available for public inspection.

Child Protection

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what steps he is taking in response to the findings of the Serious Case Review of Child EG published by the Westminster Safeguarding Children Board;
	(2)  what steps he is taking following the findings of the Serious Case Review of Child Z published by the Croydon Safeguarding Children Board in October 2011.

Edward Timpson: holding answer 7 January 2013
	The two serious case reviews that my hon. Friend refers to contained a number of recommendations for central Government. These relate to the responsibilities of several Government Departments. I am responding as I have ministerial responsibility in Government for policy on serious case reviews.
	Officials of the Department are liaising with those Departments to clarify the latest position on the issues the recommendations raise. Because of the time of year it has not yet been possible to collate all of that information. I will therefore write with a full reply to my hon. Friend’s questions shortly.

Education: Assessments

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the potential benefits of introducing a UK-wide public examination system.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 22 October 2012
	The public examination system is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive, the Welsh Government and the Scottish Government. We have no plans to seek to change that position.

Education: Assessments

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he plans to take to ensure that the views of those schools in Northern Ireland that sit GCSE examinations through English and Welsh Boards are taken account of in any consultation on new examination arrangements for England.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 22 October 2012
	We announced in September our intention to introduce new English baccalaureate certificates. As qualifications policy is a devolved matter, our decision to replace GCSEs with high-quality qualifications, matching the best in the world, applies to England only. Our proposals for implementing our reforms are now the subject of consultation, and we will welcome and consider any views which teachers, parents, students and others in Northern Ireland choose to submit.

Education: Assessments

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how often he has met his counterparts in Northern Ireland and Wales to discuss the current examination arrangements at GCSE and A level in the last year.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 22 October 2012
	The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has not met the Minister for Education in Northern Ireland or the Minister for Education and Skills in Wales to discuss current examination arrangements at GCSE and A-level in the last year. An invitation has been extended to the Ministers to meet me to discuss our proposals for English baccalaureate certificates and reform of A-levels.

Employment Agencies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the total spending on recruitment agencies by his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department has spent the following amounts on the provision of temporary (agency) staff through the two recruitment agencies with which it has a contract.
	
		
			  £ 
			 July 72,122.31 
			 August 90,409.26 
			 September 96,303.67 
			 October 83,711.54 
			 November 109,437.58 
			 December (1)— 
			 (1) TBC. At the time of submitting this response, final figures for December were unavailable as not all invoices had been received.

English Baccalaureate

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he will publish the results of his public consultation on the English Baccalaureate.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 7 January 2012
	We are currently reviewing the responses that we have received during this public consultation and anticipate reporting the results early in 2013, once we have considered them fully.

Equality

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of staff in his Department have received training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, within the last three years.

Elizabeth Truss: In line with the Government policy of embedding equality as an integral part of policies and programmes, the Department builds equality and diversity into all staff development and training and in 2010 ran specific workshops across the organisation to explain changes to the Equality Act and how it would impact on our people and our work.
	Information on the numbers of staff who received training is not held centrally could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Free School Meals

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what his policy is on provision of free school meals under universal credit;
	(2)  if he will estimate the cost of extending free school meal entitlement to all (a) primary and (b) secondary school children living in households (i) with a total income below £16,190 and (ii) in receipt of universal credit.

David Laws: holding answer 7 January 2012
	The Government's aim is to ensure that, as universal credit is gradually introduced from 2013, the criteria by which children in primary and secondary schools are entitled to free school meals are fair, simple, and easily integrated into the way that schools currently provide free school meals. We are also seeking to minimise additional costs to the public purse from any changes.
	We are therefore working with the Department for Work and Pensions to simplify free school meals criteria under universal credit, while ensuring that free school meals continue to be available to the families who need them most. We are also working closely with local authorities and other interested parties.
	The following table provides current estimates of the additional cost: of (i) extending free school meal entitlement to families who will be entitled, to universal credit with a total income (excluding benefits income) of below £16,000; and (ii) of extending entitlement to all families who will be entitled to universal credit. Estimates for precisely £16,190 are not available. This compares with a total estimated cost of free school meals in 2012-13 under current criteria of £460 million. All figures are in today's prices.
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Estimated additional cost (per year) of extending FSM to: Primary(1) Secondary(1) Total 
			 Families entitled to UC with total income below £16,000 (excluding benefits income) 163 126 289 
			 All families entitled to UC 453 311 764 
			 (1) Primary refers to pupils up to age 11, and secondary to pupils 11-15, and each includes pupils in all provision including special schools.

Health Education: Drugs

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the role of drugs education within the curriculum; what representations his Department has received on the nature and effectiveness of drugs education; whether he plans to review such evidence; and what steps he intends to take to improve the quality and prevalence of drugs education in schools.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 7 January 2013
	Pupils are currently taught about the negative physiological effects of drugs as part of the statutory National Curriculum Programmes of Study for science, and may also receive wider drugs education as part of non-statutory Personal, Health and Economic (PSHE) education. Revised draft programmes of study for both subjects will be sent out for consultation in due course and consultation responses received will be taken into account before final programmes of study are published later this year.

Health Education: Sex

Amber Rudd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students have been removed from secondary school sex education classes on the discretion of their parents or guardians in (a) Hastings and Rye constituency, (b) East Sussex and (c) the UK in each year since 1997.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 7 January 2013
	The Department does not collect data about the removal of pupils from Sex and Relationship Education (SRE).

ICT: Theft

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) computers, (b) mobile telephones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other pieces of IT equipment were lost or stolen from his Department in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: The following departmental IT equipment has been lost or stolen in the period requested:
	
		
			  Lost Stolen Total 
			 2010-11    
			 Laptops 0 6 6 
			 BlackBerry devices 11 8 19 
			 Signify Tokens (remote access) 4 0 4 
			 USB Memory Sticks 10 0 10 
			     
			 2011-12    
			 Laptops 5 9 14 
			 BlackBerry devices 15 7 22 
			 Signify Tokens (remote access) 11 8 19 
			 USB Memory Sticks 3 2 5 
		
	
	Information about mobile phones is not currently held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	All DFE IT equipment is fully security encrypted. The replacement cost of laptops includes encryption- software to allow the handling of sensitive material up to ‘Restricted’ and to meet the Code of Connection for the Government Secure Intranet.

Ofsted

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what arrangements are in place to ensure accountability of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools to (a) the Government and (b) Parliament.

David Laws: Ofsted is a non-ministerial Government Department, with a non-executive board that sets the strategic objectives and holds Her Majesty's Chief Inspector (HMCI) to account for the delivery of his functions. HMCI is required to make an annual report to the Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), which is laid before Parliament, presenting key inspection findings. Ofsted is also required separately to publish an annual report and accounts in line with HM Treasury requirements for Government Departments. HMCI is accountable directly to Parliament and is called to give evidence twice annually to the Education Committee, to account for his performance and for Ofsted's operational activities. Ministers meet regularly with the chief inspector to discuss a range of issues.

Ofsted

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many inspectors were engaged by Ofsted who had (a) qualified teacher status and (b) lay inspector status in each of the last five years.

David Laws: This question is a matter for Ofsted. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has written to the hon. Member, providing him with the information requested, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries.
	Letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw, dated 3 January 2013
	Your recent Parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
	Ofsted carries out inspections under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. These provisions came into force on 1 September 2005 and replaced much longer inspections which were previously carried out under section 10 of the School Inspection Act 1996.
	The teams that carried out the s10 inspections included 'lay inspectors' as required by that legislation. However, the effect of the legislative changes which took place under the Education Act 2005 was to repeal the provisions relating to the use of lay inspectors. Lay inspector status therefore ceased to exist when Ofsted started carrying out section 5 inspections in September 2005.
	Following the introduction of section 5 inspections, just two types of inspector have carried out inspections under section 5. These are Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI), directly employed by Ofsted, and additional inspectors, employed by the Inspection Service Providers, contracted to deliver inspections of behalf of Ofsted.
	Since the introduction of section 5 inspections, additional inspectors have all had to be appropriately trained and then presented for ‘sign off’ by HMI before they can be deployed on inspections. In addition, where an additional inspector has not been used on an inspection for 12 months they must be re-presented.
	Following the changes to the inspection process introduced by the Education Act 2005, a small number of additional inspectors who were previously experienced lay inspectors continued to be deployed on inspections, until a decision was taken by the Chief Inspector in July 2012 to cease their deployment.
	All of Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) who currently undertake section 5 school inspections are required to have a teaching qualification and to have been teachers. This includes those qualified to teach in the 14-19 age range. Ofsted has not directly engaged lay inspectors in the last five years.
	We have obtained information on additional inspectors from our three Inspection Service Providers (Tribal, Serco and CfBT). The figures represent those inspectors who are engaged in inspecting schools under section 5 only. We are only able to give the figures from September 2009 as this is when we entered into the current contracts with our Inspection Service Providers. The information prior to this date is not available to us. Please note that qualified teacher status (QTS) is interpreted as QTS or the equivalent teaching qualification, because many of the workforce became qualified to teach prior to the Introduction of QTS.
	The data have been supplied by each of our Inspection Service Providers and, as there are a number of Inspectors who inspect across the three contracts, there may be a small element of duplication in the numbers of both those with QTS or equivalent and those without.
	
		
			  Additional Inspectors with QTS or equivalent Additional Inspectors without QTS (‘Lay Inspectors’) 
			 2009/10 1,569 59 
			 2010/11 1,653 58 
			 2011/12 1,858 59 
		
	
	Since 26 October 2012, there are no inspectors without QTS or equivalent teaching qualification inspecting schools under sections.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to David Laws MP, Minister of State for Schools, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.

Olympic Games 2012

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which events at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were attended by each Minister in his Department using tickets or passes for which they did not pay personally; and what the cost was of attending each such event for members of the public who used comparable seats or had comparable access.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government pledged to publish these details following the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will do so shortly.

Playing Fields: Schools

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether it is his policy that (a) academies and (b) free schools must notify (i) his Department and (ii) any other public body of the sale of school playing fields; and if he will make a statement.

David Laws: No disposal of publicly funded playing field land held for the purposes of an academy or free school—whether that land is held freehold by the Academy Trust or leased to them—may take place without the consent of the Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove).
	The exact circumstances of that consent differ according to who holds the land and how. For maintained schools and land leased by an academy from a local authority for less than 10 years, consent is granted under Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act (SSFA) 1998. Applications made under section 77 of the SSFA are considered by the School Playing Fields Advisory Panel. For land where the Academy Trust owns the freehold (or where it is held by another charitable Trust such as a Diocese) consent is obtained under Schedule 1 to the Academies Act 2010. These cases do not go before the panel, but are still subject to detailed scrutiny by officials and a final decision by Ministers using the same criteria as are set out for applications made under section 77.
	Sale proceeds must be used to improve sports or education facilities, and we will only agree to the sale of playing fields if the sports and curriculum needs of the academy and its neighbouring schools can continue to be met.
	As part of the request for consent, those proposing disposal will need to confirm that relevant local authorities and minor authorities (such as district councils) are consulted. Any subsequent sale would also be subject to local planning procedures and consents.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many civil servants in his Department regularly deal with procurement services.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education currently employs 48 civil servants in the central Commercial Division who regularly deal with procurement services. The Department has a devolved procurement process and so there are also a number of other civil servants in policy directorates who would regularly deal with procurements services, the number of these members of staff are unknown.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many procurement officers in his Department have relevant procurement qualifications.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education currently employs 43 procurement officers, of which 33 have completed the relevant procurement qualification and a further six are part-qualified.

Pupil Exclusions: Suffolk

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children were permanently excluded from (a) primary, (b) middle, (c) upper and (d) secondary schools in Suffolk in each of the last three years.

Elizabeth Truss: The available information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Number of permanent exclusions in state-funded primary and secondary schools in Suffolk local authority area(1,2,3), years: 2008/09 to 2010/11 
			  Number of permanent exclusions 
			    Of which:  
			  State-funded primary State- funded secondary Middle deemed secondary Total(4) 
			 2008/09 6 75 n/a 80 
			 2009/10 11 57 n/a 70 
			 2010/11 7 50 * 60 
			 n/a = Not available. ‘*’ = Less than 5. (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes primary academies. (3) Includes city technology colleges and secondary academies (including all through academies). (4) Totals have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census 
		
	
	For 2008/09 and 2009/10, the Department carried out a checking exercise to confirm the overall number of permanent exclusions. This confirmed the number of primary and secondary phase exclusions in each local authority area but not at school level, therefore information for middle schools is not separately identifiable prior to 2010/11. For 2010/11, middle schools can be identified but to separately identify upper secondary schools would incur disproportionate cost.
	The latest data on exclusions were published in the “Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2010/11” Statistical First Release on 25 July 2012 at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001080/index.shtml

Redundancy

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many civil service posts have been made redundant by his Department in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of redundancies in each such year;
	(2)  how many posts have been declared redundant by each of his Department's Executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1999; and what has been the cost of those redundancies in each such year.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department (and its predecessors) has not made any staff redundant but has agreed voluntary early releases.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of voluntary early releases Cost (£ million) 
			 2011-12 177 9.3 
			 2010-11 141 7.7 
			 2009-10 185 23 
			 2008-09 93 6.5 
			 2007-08 117 1.9 
			 2006-07 156 10.6 
			 2005-06 204 15.1 
		
	
	Available information for the Department's non-departmental public bodies is as follows:
	
		
			 April 2011-March 2012 
			  Voluntary releases Cost Compulsory releases Cost 
			 Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) 19 £459,000 67 £456,000 
			 Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) 34 £412,000 0 0 
			 General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) 80 £1.494 million 7 £130,000 
			 National College (NC) 30 £1.386 million 0 0 
			 Office for the Children's Commissioner (OCC) 1 £11,500 0 0 
			 Office of Qualifications and Examinations regulation (Ofqual) 0 0 0 0 
			 Office of Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) 1 £21,000 0 0 
			 Partnerships for Schools (PFS) 21 £1.36 million 0 0 
			 Qualifications and Curriculum development Agency (QCDA) 50 £1.087 million 0 0 
			 Schools Food Trust (SFT) 1 £18,500 4 £105,000 
			 Training and Development Agency (TDA) 0 0 0 0 
			 Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) 5 £384,000 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 April 2010-March 2011 
			  Voluntary releases Cost Compulsory releases Cost 
			 British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) 143 £4.6 million 27 909,650 
		
	
	
		
			 Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) 79 £1.49 million 40 £1.52 million 
			 Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) 11 £130,000 0 0 
			 General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) 0 0 0 0 
			 National College (NC) 20 £288,000 0 0 
			 Office for the Children's Commissioner (OCC) 0 0 0 0 
			 Office of Qualifications and Examinations regulation (Ofqual) 0 0 0 0 
			 Office of Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) 26 £1.1 million 0 0 
			 Partnerships for Schools (PFS) 12 £475,000 0 0 
			 Qualifications and Curriculum development Agency (QCDA) 140 £6 million 0 0 
			 Schools Food Trust (SFT) 12 £213,000 4 £67,500 
			 Training and Development Agency (TDA) 21 £1.9 million 0 0 
			 Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	Information for earlier years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the total amount of redundancy pay paid to civil servants in his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department has not made any redundancy payments. However, it has funded a number of approved voluntary exits over the period. All compensation payments have been made in line with Civil Service Compensation Scheme rules and these payments are set out in the following table:
	
		
			 2012 
			 Month Number of staff Total amount of compensation paid (£) 
			 July 0 0 
			 August 0 0 
			 September Less than 5 28,500 
		
	
	
		
			 October Less than 5 201,500 
			 November 0 0 
			 December Less than 5 90,000

Schools: Catering

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many support staff have been employed in the role of cook or catering assistant in schools in (a) 2012 to date and (b) 2011.

Elizabeth Truss: In November 2011 the head count number of staff employed in the roles of cook and ‘other catering staff' directly employed by publicly funded schools in England was 10,710 and 29,330 respectively. A further 5,770 cooks and 9,150 other catering staff employed by third party agencies were also recorded as being employed in these schools. The information is from the School Workforce Census, November 2011.
	The information requested for 2012 is expected to become available in April 2013.

Schools: Public Footpaths

Nigel Adams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many school playgrounds and playing fields owned by schools are crossed by public footpaths; how many such footpaths have been diverted for security reasons; and how many have been closed in the last 10 years.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education does not collect or hold this information.

Schools: Standards

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to reform school league tables.

David Laws: We have already made significant reforms to school performance tables. The new tables include much more data than ever before, bringing together information on attainment, school finance, school workforce, Ofsted reports and pupil absence into one easily accessible site. The last secondary school tables contained four times more data than the previous year. From 2014, only high-value qualifications will count in secondary school performance tables. This will encourage schools to enter students for qualifications that are most likely to help them progress to further study or employment.
	This term, we will launch a consultation on further reforms to school accountability, in preparation for the introduction of the new English Baccalaureate Certificates. The consultation will ask how we can ensure that the performance tables recognise schools that support all their students to achieve their best, and how we can minimise any perverse incentives in the accountability system. We also plan to consult on further reforms to ensure that only high-value qualifications count in the performance tables for 16-19 education providers.

Secondary Education

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) name, (b) URN and (c) establishment number of each maintained secondary school was in the latest year figures are available; what proportion of pupils at each such school (i) were entitled to free school meals, (ii) had special educational needs with statements or school action plans, (iii) spoke English as a second language, (iv) achieved five or more GCSEs at grade C or above and (v) achieved the English Baccalaureate; and what the (A) average uncapped GCSE, (B) key stage 2 to 4 centre value-added and (C) key stage 2 to 4 raw value added score was at each such school.

Elizabeth Truss: The 2011 School Performance Tables include a wide range of indicators for each state-funded secondary school; this information is available on the departmental website here:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/2011/download_data.html
	The following table indicates in which file at the above link (Census or KS4 Results) the requested information can be found and how the required columns are identified:
	
		
			 Requested information File name Column name 
			 School name KS4 Results SCHNAME 
			 Unique Reference Number (URN) KS4 Results URN 
			 Establishment Number KS4 Results ESTAB 
			    
			 Percentage of pupils at each state-funded school that:   
			 Were entitled to free school meals Census PNUMFSM 
			 Had special educational needs with statements or School Action Plus Census PSENSAP 
			 Spoke English as a second language Census PNUMEAL 
			 Achieved five or more GCSEs at grade C or above KS4 Results PTAC5 
			 Achieved the English Baccalaureate KS4 Results PTEBACC 
			    
			 At each state-funded school:   
			 The average uncapped GCSE point score per pupil KS4 Results TTAPS 
			 The key stage 2-4 centre value-added measure based on the best 8 GCSE and equivalent results KS4 Results B8VAMEA 
			 The key stage 2-4 raw value added measure based on the best 8 GCSE and equivalent results KS4 Results B8VAMEA-1000 
		
	
	Definitions for each indicator are available from the following link:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/2011/metadata.html
	Further information can be accessed by clicking the ‘plus' next to “KS4 Attainment Results” or “Census data” headings.
	State-funded (i.e. LA maintained, Academy and Free School) secondary schools are identified in the NFTYPE column as follows:
	
		
			 Abbreviation School Type 
			 AC Academy Sponsor-Led 
			 ACC Academy 
			 ACF Academy Free School 
			 ACS Special Academy 
			 CTC City Technology College 
			 CY Community School 
			 CYS Community Special School 
			 FD Foundation School 
			 FDS Foundation Special School 
			 VA Voluntary Aided School 
			 VC Voluntary Controlled School 
		
	
	The 2012 School (Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5) Performance Tables are planned to be published at the end of January 2013.

Special Educational Needs

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of people aged (a) 16 and (b) 17 who are currently not in education, employment or training have a special educational need or disability; and what specific (i) additional support funding and (ii) top-up funding he has allocated to meet the needs of these young people in the next three years.

Edward Timpson: At the end of 2011, data available from local authorities evidenced that 6.9% of 16 year olds and 10.3% of 17-year-olds with learning difficulties and/or disabilities were not in education, employment or training. This compares with 3.7% and 5.4% among all 16 and 17-year-olds.
	The new High Need Students funding reforms provide a new fairer, simpler and more transparent funding system. This approach provides local authorities and education institutions with greater flexibilities through, for example, the introduction of a lagged system that guarantees funding in future years when institutions take on additional students, and through negotiations between local authorities and institutions on the number of learners that will be supported.
	One major aspect of the funding reforms is to bring together all funding for students with high cost additional needs using common principles, in which local authorities will be both commissioner and funder. This gives an enhanced role to local authorities and each will have a single high needs budget to cover their education funding responsibilities for all high needs children and young people aged 0 to 25 resident in their area.
	Funding will be by three distinct elements. Element 1, core education funding, and element 2, the first £6,000 of additional student support, will be funded by the Education Funding Agency. Element 1 funding will be used for the course(s) being studied and will be based on Education Funding Agency funding formula using lagged student numbers. Element 2 will be allocated based on the number of places each local authority has told the Education Funding Agency it wishes to commission at each institution. Element 3, top-up funding, will be funded directly by the local authority. This is the funding required above elements 1 and 2 to meet the total costs of the education provision, and is based on the student's assessed needs and the setting in which those needs are to be met.
	There is not a specific budget for young people aged 16 to 17 not in education, employment or training who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities because many of these young people will be accommodated within mainstream provision such as schools, academies, colleges, and apprenticeships providers, but the total budget for High Needs Students aged 16 to 24 in 2013-14 will be, some £640 million, which includes programme costs.

Teachers

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) turnover and (b) wastage rate was for (i) full-time and (ii) part-time teachers in each school in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Elizabeth Truss: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The data held by the Database of Teacher Records could in theory provide teacher turnover and wastage data at a school level. However, the Department does not consider the information to be robust enough to produce reliable data at this level. As a result this school level information is not produced by the Department and it is therefore not available to share as requested.
	The reason why the Department believes the data are not reliable enough to produce these types of school level indicators is because the Database of Teacher Records is incomplete. The data are derived from the records held in respect of the administration of the Teachers' Pensions Scheme. Consequently there are limitations on the scope of the information that is received. For example, we know that the number of part-time teachers is under-represented as well as those on short-term contracts, unqualified teachers, and those that have opted-out of the scheme. In addition other information is missing because of the time it takes for the records to be updated. This is outside our control.
	In order to produce the published national and regional estimates of teacher turnover and wastage the data from the Database of Teacher Records are compared with teacher data from other sources, chiefly the School Workforce Census and in earlier years the form 618g survey, and weighted to ensure it reflects accurately the national position on teacher numbers. Consequently, this process is not currently applied at school level.
	National and regional full-time and part-time figures are published in the additional tables C1 and C2 of the April 2011 statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2010 (Provisional)’ which is available at the following web link:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/datasets/a00196713/school-workforce-sfr
	Figures are still provisional for 2008-09 and 2009-10 and are subject to change.

Teachers: Male

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of primary schools in each decile of deprivation had (a) zero and (b) fewer than 10 per cent full-time equivalent male teachers on their staff.

David Laws: The following table provides the number and percentage of publicly funded primary schools in each decile of deprivation which had no full-time equivalent qualified male teacher and those with fewer than 10% full-time equivalent qualified male teachers in service in England, November 2011.
	
		
			 Publicly funded primary school(1) numbers and percentages in each decile of deprivation(2) which had no full-time equivalent qualified male teachers and those which had fewer than 10% full-time equivalent qualified male teachers in service—November 2011—England 
			  Publicly funded primary schools with: 
			  No qualified males Greater than zero and fewer than 10% qualified males 
			 Decile deprivation(4) Number Percentage(3) Number Percentage(3) 
			 0-10% 310 19.1 300 18.9 
			 10-20% 310 20.2 330 21.5 
			 20-30% 350 22.4 280 17.5 
			 30-40% 380 23.8 270 17.2 
			 40-50% 390 23.2 250 14.7 
			 50-60% 490 26.5 230 12.5 
			 60-70% 570 30.9 200 11.1 
			 70-80% 600 31.0 230 11.9 
			 80-90% 560 30.0 190 10.1 
			 90-100% 420 27.5 190 12.4 
			 Total 4,370 25.7 2,470 14.5 
			 (1) Includes nursery schools and excludes 294 schools for which information is not available. (2) The index of deprivation used is the Index of Deprivation Affecting Children, (IDACI) 2012, for the Super Output Area in which the school lies. The index was supplied by the Department for Communities and Local Government. (3) Percentage of the total number of schools in each decile. (4) 0-10% is the most deprived decile, 90-100% the least deprived. Note: School numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Workforce Census, November 2011

Teachers: Qualifications

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people obtained each type of school-based qualification offered in IT in 2011; what assessment he has made of the value of such qualifications to the UK communications industry; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 7 January 2013
	In 2011 a total of 427,658 pupils took a school-based qualification in IT. The number obtaining each type of qualification is shown in the following table. The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), made a statement on the limitations of some IT qualifications in January 2012 in response to reports from leading experts, including NESTA, the Royal Society and e-Skills UK. Professional bodies and the IT sector are now leading the design of new curricula for schools.
	
		
			 Number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 achieving specific qualifications, year 2010/11 (Final), coverage: England 
			 Qualification type Subject Number of pupils at end of KS4 achieving qualification 
			 IT   
			 Applied GCE AS level Applied ICT 263 
			 Cambridge International Certificate Level 1/Level 2 Information and Communications Technology 461 
			 Legacy iGCSE Information and Communications Technology 4 
			 Functional Skill at Level 1 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 14,130 
			 functional Skill at Level 2 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 31,175 
			 GCE AS level Computer Studies/Computing 269 
			 GCE AS level Information and Communications Technology 666 
			 GCSE Full Course Computer Studies/Computing 53 
			 GCSE Full Course Information and Communications Technology 35,575 
			 GCSE Short Course Information and Communications Technology 26,430 
			 Key Skill at Level 1 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 718 
			 Key Skill at Level 2 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 3,091 
			 NVQ Level 1 Band B Computer Appreciation/Introduction 18 
			 NVQ Level 2 Band B Computer Appreciation/Introduction 41 
			 OCR National Award at Level 1 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 115 
			 OCR National Award at Level 2 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 73,909 
			 OCR National Certificate at Level 1 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 3 
			 OCR National Certificate at Level 2 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 16,422 
			 OCR National First Award at Level 1 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 896 
			 Other General Qualification at Level 1 Applied ICT 5,282 
			 Other General Qualification at Level 2 Applied ICT 53,430. 
			 Principal Learning (Diploma) —Level 1 Principal Learning IT 94 
			 Principal Learning (Diploma)—Level 2 Principal Learning IT 1,686 
			 Vocational GCSE Double Award Applied ICT 3,833 
		
	
	
		
			 VRQ Level 1 Computer aided Design (CAD) 9 
			 VRQ Level 1 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 6,010 
			 VRQ Level 1 Computer help desk Operations 22 
			 VRQ Level 2 Computer Appreciation/Introduction 153,008 
			 VRQ Level 2 Computer Architecture/Systems 45

Teachers: Qualifications

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people obtained each type of school-based qualification offered in leisure and tourism in 2011; what assessment he has made of the value of such qualifications to the UK tourism industry; and if he will make a statement.

Matthew Hancock: holding answer 7 January 2012
	13,911 school-based qualifications in leisure and tourism were attained by students reaching the end of key stage 4 in 2011. A full breakdown of the number of students attaining these qualifications in 2011 can be found in the House Library.
	At key stage 4, we have introduced strict new conditions that determine which non-GCSE/iGCSE qualifications can be included in performance measures. School performance tables are now restricted to qualifications that are high quality, rigorous and enable progression to a range of study and employment opportunities.
	140 non-GCSE/iGCSE qualifications have met the conditions for inclusion in the 2014 key stage 4 performance tables. 117 qualifications will be included in the 2015 tables. In both years, four qualifications in leisure and tourism have met the required standard and will be included in the performance tables. The fact that these qualifications have been included indicates our confidence that they are of high quality and provide students with a solid foundation for future progression.

Teachers: Qualifications

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people obtained each type of school-based qualification offered in engineering in 2011; what assessment he has made of the value of such qualifications to the UK manufacturing and engineering industry; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: holding answer 7 January 2013
	In 2011 a total of 16,020 pupils took a school-based qualification in engineering. The number obtaining each type of qualification is shown in the following table. The Department for Education has not undertaken a specific assessment of the value of school-based engineering qualifications to UK manufacturing, but Professor Alison Wolf made an assessment of the value of such qualifications as part of her recent review of vocational qualifications.
	
		
			 Number of pupils at the end of key stage 4 achieving specific qualifications. Year: 2010/11 (Final). Coverage: England 
			 Qualification type Subject Number of pupils at end of KS4 achieving qualification 
			 Engineering   
			 Applied GCE AS level Applied Engineering 25 
			 BTEC First Certificate Automotive Engineering 389 
			 BTEC First Certificate Engineering Studies 3,511 
			 BTEC First Diploma Automotive Engineering 221 
			 BTEC First Diploma Engineering Studies 1,459 
			 GCSE Full Course Applied Engineering 1,249 
			 GCSE Full Course D&T Engineering 414 
			 GCSE Short Course D&T Engineering 16 
			 NVQ Level 1 Band C Engineering Studies 590 
			 NVQ Level 2 Band C Engineering Studies 1,057 
			 Principal Learning (Diploma)—Level 1 Principal Learning Engineering 389 
			 Principal Learning (Diploma)—Level 2 Principal Learning Engineering 2,262 
			 Vocational GCSE Double Award Applied Engineering 2,176 
			 VRQ Level 1 Automotive Engineering 1,904 
			 VRQ Level 1 Building Services Engineering 3 
			 VRQ Level 1 Engineering Studies 456 
			 VRQ Level 1 Manufacturing Engineering 145 
			 VRQ Level 2 Automotive Engineering 27 
			 VRQ Level 2 Building Services Engineering 7 
			 VRQ Level 2 Engineering Studies 1,563 
			 VRQ Level 2 Manufacturing Engineering 102 
			 VRQ Level 2 Mechanical Engineering (General) 6 
			 VRQ Level 2 Technical/Engineering Drawing 49

Temporary Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what amount his Department spent on interim staff as defined by the National Audit Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: In response to this question, the following information has been taken from the Department's published annual report and accounts for 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively.
	
		
			 Period Spend £ million 
			 2010-11 4.1 
			 2011-12 1.67 
		
	
	The Department has contracts for the engagement of staff and specialist contractors to cover short-term requirements. Situations when resource may be hired include: to cover unexpected absences; short term peaks in workload; short term projects; or to cover a permanent vacancy until the vacancy can be filled.
	As a result of the spending controls on recruitment introduced in May 2010, any use of contingent labour is subject to the efficiency controls process and requires ministerial approval.

Temporary Employment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many temporary staff have been recruited in his Department in each month from July to December 2012.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department has recruited the following number of temporary staff (fixed term appointments) during the period July to December 2012.
	
		
			  Number 
			 July 14 
			 August 2 
			 September 1 
			 October 3 
			 November 3 
			 December (1)TBC 
			 (1) At the time of submitting this response, the fixed term appointment figures are unavailable.

Young People: Databases

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities effectively track people aged 16 and 17 on the national client caseload following the raising of the participation age; and what plans he has to ensure that the number of young people who are categorised as not known is reduced.

David Laws: The Department recognises that the proportion of young people whose activity is not known in local authority databases is too high. To ensure the transparency of information and increase accountability, the Department makes available on its website data about the proportion of young people whose activity is not known by local authority. Through our Raising the Participation Age local projects, we are supporting local authorities to develop and share effective practice in tracking young people's participation.
	The Department intends to publish statutory guidance for local authorities with regard to their duties under the Raising the Participation Act legislation in early 2013. This will make clear their role in effectively tracking young people's participation, and reporting this through the national client caseload information system. The Department wrote to Directors of Children's Services in 35 local areas in early 2012 to draw their attention to their high ‘not known’ rates. This was followed by individual visits and discussions with five areas.

JUSTICE

Ashwell Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2012, Official Report, column 857W, on Ashwell Prison, 
	(1)  what the valuation provided for the former Ashwell prison site was;
	(2)  for what reasons the former Ashwell prison site was not placed on the open market.

Jeremy Wright: The former HMP Ashwell was valued at £1.34 million by the Valuation Office Agency. However if planning permission is obtained for residential development or, (under specified circumstances) retail development, additional payments will be due to the Ministry of Justice within a period of 20 years. The site was not placed on the open market as a sale to Rutland county council was assessed as representing best consideration for the tax payer under current market conditions. The sale of the site was completed on 14 December 2012.

Christmas: Expenditure

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on Christmas trees and decorations in each of its buildings in 2012; how many (a) artificial and (b) real Christmas trees his Department purchased in 2012; whether his Department plans to re-use the artificial trees in 2013; whether the real trees were purchased from eco-friendly and sustainable sources; and how his Department plans to dispose of the real trees.

Helen Grant: The Department and its agencies, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) have not incurred any expenditure on Christmas trees and decorations at any of their buildings in 2012. Decorations are usually paid for by the staff themselves. The small numbers of Christmas decorations which have been placed in the reception areas have been recycled from previous years. In respect of the Department's other Executive agency, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), no central records are maintained. To provide information on the amount spent on Christmas trees and decorations in individual prisons would involve incurring disproportionate cost.

Crimes of Violence: Reoffenders

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the average number of reconvictions was for each offender found guilty of grievous bodily harm between 1994 and 2011;
	(2)  what the average number of reconvictions was for each offender found guilty of actual bodily harm between 1994 and 2011;
	(3)  what the average number of reconvictions was for each offender found guilty of robbery between 1994 and 2011;
	(4)  what the average number of reconvictions was for each offender found guilty of rape between 1994 and 2011.

Jeremy Wright: These questions have been answered using the Ministry of Justice's published proven re-offending statistics for England and Wales, broken down further by offence type. These statistics are published on a quarterly basis and the latest bulletin, for the period January to December 2010, was published on 25 October 2012.
	Table 1 shows the number of adult offenders in England and Wales who were released from custody or received a non-custodial conviction at court for offences of rape, robbery, grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm in each of the years 2000, 2002 to 2010; and the average number of proven re-offences per offender.
	The Ministry of Justice does not hold proven re-offending data for years prior to 2000; 2000 is the earliest year for which proven re-offending data exist on a comparable basis and data are not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on Court Orders. Data for 2011 will be published on 31 October 2013.
	A proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one-year follow-up period and receiving a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one- year follow-up. Following this one-year period, a further six-month waiting period is allowed for cases to progress through the courts.
	Please note that proven re-offending statistics are available from the Ministry of Justice website at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/reoffending/proven-re-offending

Crimes of Violence: Sentencing

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the average custodial sentence handed down for actual bodily harm was in each year between 1994 and 2011;
	(2)  what the average custodial sentence handed down for grievous bodily harm was in each year between 1994 and 2011;
	(3)  what the average custodial sentence handed down for robbery was in each year between 1994 and 2011;
	(4)  what the average custodial sentence handed down for rape was in each year between 1994 and 2011.

Jeremy Wright: Average length of immediate custodial sentences at all courts for the requested offences, in England and Wales, from 1994 to 2011, can be viewed in the following tables.
	
		
			 Average length of immediate custodial sentence(1) at all courts, by offence, England and Wales, 1994 to 2011(2,3) 
			  1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 
			 Rape(4) 77.3 77.2 78.4 79.1 79.9 80.4 83.4 81.8 84.2 
			 Grievousbodilyharm(5) 38.2 39.7 45.8 44.1 43.9 45.8 45.0 48.0 46.5 
			 Actual bodily harm(6) 6.8 7.4 7.8 7.8 7.5 7.8 8.0 8.5 9.3 
			 Robbery 39.8 38.2 38.1 39.1 35.3 35.7 36.1 35.4 38.9 
		
	
	
		
			  2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Rape(4) 86.8 85.1 81.8 81.2 85.4 90.3 95.7 97.2 102.5 
			 Grievousbodilyharm(5) 50.3 48.6 48.6 46.5 43.7 49.4 52.1 54.2 59.8 
		
	
	
		
			 Actual bodily harm(6) 9.2 9.8 10.1 10.5 10.7 11.0 11.2 11.3 11.5 
			 Robbery 39.3 38.4 35.0 32.3 31.3 32.5 33.6 34.5 35.6 
			 (1) Excludes life and indeterminate sentences. (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Includes offences under: Sexual Offences Act 1956 s1 and Sexual Offences Act 2003, s1 and s5 (5) Includes offences under: Offences against the Person Act 1861, s18 (6) Includes offences under: Offences against the Person Act 1861, S.47 (in part) Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Debt Collection

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure that certified bailiffs undertake their duties in compliance with (a) legislation and (b) appropriate codes of conduct; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The “Transforming Bailiff Action” consultation considered the conduct of and legislation governing bailiffs.
	The Ministry of Justice is currently finalising the Government response to this consultation paper and will issue this in due course.

Driving Under Influence

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of people convicted of drink-drive offences were found to be over the legal blood alcohol limit when driving (a) 10 hours after taking their last drink, (b) 24 hours after taking their last drink and (c) 48 hours after taking their last drink in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice does not contain information about the circumstances behind each case, beyond the description provided in the statute under which proceedings are brought. It is not possible to identify from this centrally held information the time between an offender's last drink and the taking of the test which produced a finding of the offender being over the legal blood alcohol limit.
	In 2011, there were 48,883 offenders found guilty at all courts in England and Wales of offences which could be identified exclusively as drink-driving.

Family Justice Review

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the consequences for his Department's policies of the conclusions of the Norgrove Report.

Helen Grant: The Government published its response to the Family Justice Review on 6 February 2012. The response included the following priorities:
	Putting children at the heart of the process so that their needs are the paramount concern;
	Creating a single family court to make the system more effective and easier for users to navigate;
	Speeding up care cases, committing to limit the length of care cases to 26 weeks, down from the then current average of 55 weeks;
	Establishing a Family Justice Board to drive performance improvements in the system and improve management information.
	Implementing the recommendations of the review is a Government priority and we are confident that the programme of family justice reform can be successfully delivered within the context of the Ministry of Justice's broader policies. The Ministry of Justice is working with Her Majesty's Court and Tribunal Service, the Legal Services Commission, the Department for Education and the Judiciary to implement the Review's recommendations.
	We are making good progress. The Family Justice Board, independently chaired by David Norgrove, has been established and the legislation which will create a single family court is progressing through Parliament as part of the Crime and Courts Bill. Draft clauses which will take forward some of the other key recommendations of the review, including the introduction of the new time limit for care cases, have recently been subject to Pre-Legislative Scrutiny by the Justice Select Committee.

Prisoners: Rehabilitation

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress he has made on the expansion of the payment by results model to prisoner rehabilitation schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: We are running 14 pilot projects testing payment by results in different parts of the justice system. In each case, providers will only be paid in full if they achieve a specific outcome. In the case of the two pilots involving offenders released from Doncaster and Peterborough prisons, some or all of the provider payments will be dependent on a reduction in reoffending.
	We now intend to apply payment by results to the majority of rehabilitation work conducted with offenders in the community, as part of a broader package of reforms. This “rehabilitation revolution” will stimulate innovation and open the delivery of services to a wider range of providers with the skills needed to change an individual's behaviour and reduce future reoffending. We intend that these services should cover offenders released from prison, including those sentenced to less than 12 months in custody.

Prisoners: Wales

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prisoners on remand and (b) convicted prisoners currently in custody have addresses in North Wales.

Jeremy Wright: The following table shows the number of remand and sentenced prisoners as at 28 September 2012 who have a recorded address in a local authority area that constitutes the North Wales geographical area:
	
		
			  Number of prisoners 
			 Remand 97 
			 Sentenced 804 
			 Total 901 
		
	
	The figures include remand and sentenced male and female prisoners, adults, young offenders and juveniles that are held in prisons and young offender institutions.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible error with data entry and processing.
	Information on offenders' residences is provided by offenders on reception into prison and recorded on a central IT system. Addresses can include a home address, an address to which offenders intend to return on discharge or next of kin address and these figures are provided in the table above.
	If no address is given, an offender's committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. These figures are also included in the table above. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders, these figures are excluded from the table above.

Prisons

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisons have been re-designated as joint establishments containing both adult and young offenders' institutions since May 2010.

Jeremy Wright: Young adults (aged 18 to 21 years old) sentenced to detention in a young offender institution (DYOI) are detained in young offender institutions (YOIs) as required by section 98 of the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. These are normally self-contained but in some establishments that have a dual designation (designed both as a prison and a YOI) young adults are held alongside adults with which they share the majority of their facilities. Whatever the location, young adults detained in YOIs have separate sleeping accommodation.
	Since May 2010 the following prisons have been re-designated as establishments holding both adult and young offenders (aged 18 to 21-years-old):
	Cardiff
	Forest Bank
	Northallerton
	Nottingham
	Portland
	Preston
	Rochester
	Stoke Heath
	Swansea

Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the monetary value was of contracts awarded by his Department to (a) management consultancies and (b) IT companies in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: The total values of contracts awarded by the Ministry of Justice by category and financial year are provided in the following table.
	
		
			  (a) Management consultants (£000) (b) IT companies (£ million) 
			 2010-11 20 60.4 
			 2011-12 0 40.4

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the total amount of redundancy pay paid to civil servants in his Department was in each month from July to December 2012.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice has not made any compulsory redundancy payments in the period July 2012 to November 2012 (the latest period for which figures are available). However, it has funded a number of approved voluntary early departures and voluntary redundancies over this period. The total amount of these payments is given in the following table.
	
		
			  £000 
			 July 0 
			 August 12,527 
			 September 462 
			 October 936 
			 November 1,112 
			 Total 15,037 
		
	
	All compensation payments have been made in line with civil service compensation scheme rules.

Temporary Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what amount his Department spent on interim staff as defined by the National Audit Office in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: In consideration of the National Audit Office definition of interim staff being
	“people fulfilling 'business as usual' roles within the current organisational structure that would otherwise be undertaken by a salaried permanent member of staff”;
	details of the specific individuals being utilised as temporary replacements for permanent staff are not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Young Offender Institutions: Christmas

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost has been to the public purse of Christmas parties held for those detained in each institution in the secure youth estate, in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: The Department does not keep a central record of these data. To collate this information, by contacting all youth secure establishments, would incur disproportionate costs.

Young Offenders

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people under the age of 18 have been charged with each offence since May 2005.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice does not hold the information required to answer this question as we do not hold statistics centrally on the number of people charged. However the Ministry of justice holds corresponding data on the number of prosecutions and the following table shows the number of defendants under the age of 18 prosecuted at magistrates court May 2005 to 2011.
	
		
			 Defendants under the age of 18 prosecuted at magistrates court May 2005-11 
			 Offence 2005(1) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Total 
			 Violence Against Person 7,602 11,051 10,737 9,731 9,490 9,117 7,118 64,846 
			 Sexual Offences 796 987 1,009 868 884 987 858 6,389 
			 Burglary 5,685 8,185 7,908 6,991 7,029 6,816 6,298 48,912 
			 Robbery 4,002 6,418 6,808 5,628 5,650 5,492 5,960 39,956 
			 Theft and Handling 13,848 20,021 21,494 18,409 16,936 15,946 14,355 121,009 
			 Fraud and Forgery 601 776 860 624 704 682 464 4,711 
			 Criminal Damage 3,011 4,742 4,623 3,250 2,434 2,319 1,816 22,195 
			 Drug Offences 3,574 4,977 5,855 6,928 6,955 6,672 5,757 40,718 
			 Indictable Motoring 447 601 462 372 326 212 175 2,595 
			 Other Indictable (Not Motoring) 5,941 8,016 7,527 6,041 6,309 6,386 4,859 45,079 
			 Summary Non-Motoring 30,684 45,674 47,489 42,921 39,149 35,828 29,195 270,940 
			 Summary Motoring 11,773 14,741 11,762 9,200 7,687 6,017 4,857 66,037 
			 All Offences 87,964 126,189 126,534 110,963 103,553 96,474 81,712 733,389 
			 (1) 2005 includes May to December only Source: Ministry of Justice

Young Offenders

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many people of each age between 10 and 17 years who were convicted of a crime (a) went on to reoffend and (b) were subsequently sentenced to a prison term at an adult institution since 1 May 1998;
	(2)  how many people of each age between 10 and 17 have been cautioned since 1 May 1998; and how many such people (a) committed a further offence and (b) were later sentenced to a prison term in an adult institution.

Jeremy Wright: These questions have been answered using the Ministry of Justice's published proven reoffending statistics for England and Wales, broken down further by age. These statistics are published on a quarterly basis and the latest bulletin, for the period January to December 2010, was published on 25 October 2012.
	The Ministry of Justice does not hold proven reoffending data for years prior to 2000; 2000 is the earliest year for which proven reoffending data exist on a comparable basis and data are not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on court orders. Data for 2011 will be published on 31 October 2013.
	Table 1 shows the number of juvenile offenders in England and Wales who were released from custody or received a non-custodial conviction at court in each of the years 2000, 2002 to 2010, by age; the number that committed a proven reoffence within a one year follow-up period; and the number that were given a custodial sentence for a proven reoffence.
	Table 2 shows the number of juvenile offenders in England and Wales who were cautioned in each of the years 2000, 2002 to 2010, by age; the number that committed a proven reoffence within a one year follow-up period; and the number that were given a custodial sentence for a proven reoffence.
	In both tables, the number of reoffenders who received a custodial sentence for a proven reoffence includes all such offenders irrespective of where they served their sentence. Information on those who were sentenced to custody in an adult prison could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	A proven reoffence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period and receiving a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year period, a further six month waiting period is allowed for cases to progress through the courts.
	Please note that proven reoffending statistics are available from the Ministry of Justice website at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/reoffending/proven-re-offending
	
		
			 Table 1: Proven reoffending data for juvenile offenders in England and Wales who were released from custody or received a non-custodial conviction at court in each of the years 2000, 2002 to 2010, by age 
			 Year(1) Age Number of offenders in cohort(2) Number of reoffenders Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) Number of reoffenders given a custodial sentence(3) 
			 2000 10 141 84 59.6 1 
			  11 545 304 55.8 26 
			  12 1,336 732 54.8 89 
			  13 3,043 1,711 56.2 284 
			  14 5,993 3,428 57.2 642 
			  15 9,826 5,275 53.7 1,203 
			  16 12,970 6,790 52.4 1,769 
			  17 17,268 8,687 50.3 2,838 
			       
			 2002 10 123 71 57.7 0 
			  11 531 293 55.2 24 
			  12 1,414 772 54.6 109 
			  13 3,281 1,735 52.9 270 
			  14 6,331 3,453 54.5 620 
			  15 10,167 5,326 52.4 1,142 
			  16 13,440 6,982 51.9 1,741 
			  17 17,670 8,771 49.6 2,631 
			       
			 2003 10 121 77 63.6 5 
			  11 494 262 53.0 17 
			  12 1,336 752 56.3 96 
			  13 3,131 1,807 57.7 276 
			  14 6,190 3,568 57.6 670 
			  15 10,210 5,518 54.0 1,151 
			  16 13,393 7,061 52.7 1,750 
			  17 17,536 8,799 50.2 2,582 
			       
			 2004 10 132 74 56.1 1 
			  11 465 251 54.0 21 
			  12 1,440 814 56.5 96 
			  13 3,333 1,941 58.2 282 
			  14 6,562 3,761 57.3 676 
			  15 10,671 5,784 54.2 1,177 
			  16 13,916 6,998 50.3 1,680 
			  17 17,651 8,436 47.8 2,655 
			       
			 2005 10 114 60 52.6 1 
			  11 511 293 57.3 23 
			  12 1,394 783 56.2 78 
			  13 3,575 2,120 59.3 325 
		
	
	
		
			  14 6,963 3,994 57.4 682 
			  15 11,172 6,044 54.1 1,192 
			  16 14,567 7,379 50.7 1,756 
			  17 17,761 8,525 48.0 2,547 
			       
			 2006 10 108 59 54.6 0 
			  11 440 242 55.0 15 
			  12 1,407 848 60.3 78 
			  13 3,409 1,973 57.9 303 
			  14 7,038 4,141 58.8 689 
			  15 11,706 6,604 56.4 1,209 
			  16 15,037 7,524 50.0 1,766 
			  17 17,990 8,869 49.3 2,585 
			       
			 2007 10 107 48 44.9 0 
			  11 467 262 56.1 21 
			  12 1,492 808 54.2 62 
			  13 3,476 1,946 56.0 252 
			  14 7,227 4,140 57.3 648 
			  15 12,121 6,426 53.0 1,191 
			  16 15,897 7,964 50.1 1,730 
			  17 18,818 9,067 48.2 2,444 
			       
			 2008 10 64 35 54.7 1 
			  11 427 236 55.3 11 
			  12 1,219 664 54.5 57 
			  13 3,148 1,798 57.1 219 
			  14 6,724 3,664 54.5 582 
			  15 10,789 5,633 52.2 982 
			  16 14,603 7,330 50.2 1,567 
			  17 18,106 8,673 47.9 2,318 
			       
			 2009 10 45 20 44.4 1 
			  11 287 143 49.8 11 
			  12 1,009 520 51.5 47 
			  13 2,584 1,410 54.6 157 
			  14 5,709 3,104 54.4 425 
			  15 9,831 5,124 52.1 823 
			  16 13,076 6,524 49.9 1,238 
			  17 16,905 8,030 47.5 2,078 
			       
			 2010 10 29 13 * 0 
			  11 200 98 49.0 9 
			  12 740 384 51.9 28 
			  13 2,176 1,196 55.0 142 
			  14 4,805 2,620 54.5 411 
			  15 8,434 4,348 51.6 799 
		
	
	
		
			  16 11,772 5,941 50.5 1,224 
			  17 15,018 7,149 47.6 1,947 
			 (1) Data are not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on court orders. (2) The group of offenders for whom reoffending is measured does not represent all proven offenders. Offenders who were released from custody or commenced a court order are matched to the PNC database and a certain proportion of these offenders cannot matched. These unmatched offenders are, therefore, excluded from the proven reoffending measure. (3) If an offender is given a custodial sentence for more than one proven re-offence, they are counted only once. Notes: 1. Italics means less than 30 offenders—treat data with caution. 2. ‘*’ = Data based on less than 30 offenders are removed as they make data unreliable for interpretation. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Proven reoffending data for juvenile offenders in England and Wales who were cautioned in each of the years 2000, 2002 to 2010, by age(1) 
			 Year(2) Age Number of offenders in cohort Number of reoffenders Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) Number of reoffenders given a custodial senence(3) 
			 2000 10 1,967 442 22.5 3 
			  11 4,351 1,015 23.3 11 
			  12 8,118 1,797 22.1 28 
			  13 12,718 3,052 24.0 80 
			  14 17,388 4,526 26.0 211 
			  15 19,090 5,097 26.7 281 
			  16 17,221 4,455 25.9 324 
			  17 15,485 4,183 27.0 437 
			       
			 2002 10 1,628 375 23.0 1 
			  11 3,580 766 21.4 10 
			  12 7,025 1,581 22.5 34 
			  13 11,152 2,546 22.8 64 
			  14 15,769 3,986 25.3 143 
			  15 17,870 4,473 25.0 210 
			  16 17,195 4,227 24.6 237 
			  17 16,472 4,168 25.3 306 
			       
			 2003 10 1,621 369 22.8 4 
			  11 3,490 803 23.0 7 
			  12 7,005 1,724 24.6 23 
			  13 11,572 2,931 25.3 70 
			  14 15,910 4,272 26.9 148 
			  15 19,066 5,030 26.4 217 
			  16 18,107 4,568 25.2 245 
			  17 16,837 4,167 24.7 316 
			       
			 2004 10 1,671 438 26.2 4 
			  11 3,797 897 23.6 15 
			  12 7,785 1,973 25.3 40 
		
	
	
		
			  13 13,196 3,567 27.0 85 
			  14 18,437 5,147 27.9 175 
			  15 21,333 5,679 26.6 213 
			  16 20,087 4,928 24.5 246 
			  17 17,288 4,236 24.5 319 
			       
			 2005 10 2,054 481 23.4 2 
			  11 4,390 1,044 23.8 11 
			  12 8,993 2,233 24.8 28 
			  13 15,188 4,123 27.1 108 
			  14 21,574 6,236 28.9 200 
			  15 24,301 6,662 27.4 271 
			  16 21,914 5,581 25.5 291 
			  17 18,334 4,484 24.5 388 
			       
			 2006 10 2,029 496 24.4 0 
			  11 4,673 1,164 24.9 7 
			  12 9,539 2,484 26.0 40 
			  13 15,683 4,268 27.2 97 
			  14 22,732 6,506 28.6 177 
			  15 26,468 7,335 27.7 294 
			  16 23,167 5,953 25.7 284 
			  17 19,432 5,025 25.9 412 
			       
			 2007 10 1,920 428 22.3 1 
			  11 4,537 1,021 22.5 8 
			  12 9,383 2,109 22.5 34 
			  13 15,294 3,923 25.7 84 
			  14 21,796 5,754 26.4 160 
			  15 25,905 6,609 25.5 233 
			  16 23,296 5,647 24.2 272 
			  17 19,622 4,783 24.4 370 
			       
			 2008 10 1,473 314 21.3 1 
			  11 3,533 725 20.5 5 
			  12 6,793 1,562 23.0 16 
			  13 11,570 2,949 25.5 61 
			  14 16,961 4,608 27.2 113 
			  15 20,386 5,260 25.8 180 
			  16 19,452 4,468 23.0 216 
			  17 18,302 4,261 23.3 354 
			       
			 2009 10 920 183 19.9 1 
			  11 2,227 420 18.9 3 
			  12 5,051 1,086 21.5 16 
			  13 8,817 2,123 24.1 33 
			  14 13,324 3,252 24.4 95 
			  15 16,296 3,978 24.4 126 
			  16 15,888 3,634 22.9 149 
		
	
	
		
			  17 15,613 3,521 22.6 248 
			       
			 2010 10 500 102 20.4 0 
			  11 1,317 290 22.0 0 
			  12 2,999 699 23.3 13 
			  13 5,652 1,555 27.5 56 
			  14 8,956 2,468 27.6 82 
			  15 11,378 2,954 26.0 118 
			  16 12,013 2,915 24.3 127 
			  17 12,369 2,962 23.9 226 
			 (1) Cautions include reprimands and warnings for juvenile offenders. (2) Data are not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on court orders. (3) If an offender is given a custodial sentence for more than one proven reoffence, they are counted only once.

CABINET OFFICE

Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what the total spend was on the refurbishment of 70 Whitehall from January 2012 to December 2012;
	(2)  what the cost was of the refurbishment of 70 Whitehall in 2012.

Francis Maude: The Modernisation Project of 70 Whitehall started in 2008. Information on the expenditure of Cabinet Office freehold buildings will be published in the Cabinet Office's accounts in the usual way.

Charitable Donations

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to encourage public donations to charities in (a) Glasgow North West constituency, (b) Glasgow, (c) Scotland and (d) the UK;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with charities on trends in donations.

Nick Hurd: Encouraging public donations to charities in Scotland is a devolved matter for the Scottish Government.
	The Government are committed to encouraging people to give their time and money. The Giving White Paper announced a series of measures to encourage giving such as the £30 million Social Action Fund and the £10 million Innovation in Giving Fund. The Giving White Paper—One Year On update:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/17541-WP-Update-Version-2.pdf
	published in May 2012, details of our ongoing implementation of these measures.
	Over the past year, we have supported:
	www.localgiving.com
	a website that allows people to find and give to local charities and community groups. It also provides charities and community groups with a webpage and access to new supporters, volunteers and online donations. In April 2013 the Treasury will introduce the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme enabling tens of thousands of charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) to claim a Gift Aid style payment on small cash donations for the first time.
	I have regular discussions with charities on a range of topics.

Charities: Closures

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make an assessment of changes to the workload of Government-provided public services as a consequence of charities closing down in (a) Glasgow North West constituency, (b) Glasgow, (c) Scotland and (d) the UK.

Nick Hurd: Charity policy in Scotland is devolved, and a matter for the Scottish Government.
	In England and Wales, the number of registered charities has remained relatively stable over the last three years. The Charity Commission had 162,848 main charities on its register at September 2012, up slightly from 160,515 in December 2009.

Civil Servants: Freedom of Expression

David Burrowes: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on freedom of speech for civil servants who are opposed to same-sex marriage of the case between Mr Adrian Smith and Trafford Housing Trust.

Francis Maude: Civil servants are required to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management Code.

Community Development

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  (a) how many and (b) which host organisers for community organisers have been appointed in each local area;
	(2)  what criteria and outcome measures his Department will use to evaluate the delivery of the community organisers programme in April 2015;
	(3)  how many senior community organisers have been trained to date.

Nick Hurd: Since the start of the programme 73 host organisations have been appointed.
	Details of the names of the host organisations and where they are located can be found at:
	http://www.cocollaborative.org.uk/members-hosts
	and here
	http://www.cocollaborative.org.uk/resource/become-host
	on the community organisers website.
	The Cabinet Office has appointed Ipsos MORI and NEF Consulting to evaluate the Community Organisers programme and the Community First Neighbourhood Match Fund.
	As part of the evaluation the evaluators will design relevant process and impact measures.
	The evaluation will feed learning back into the programmes until it is published in 2015 at the end of the programmes.
	As of the most recent quarterly reporting (October 2012), 195 senior community organisers have been trained.

Community Development

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (a) how many and (b) where have Community First panels been established.

Nick Hurd: Since the start of the programme 587 Community First panels have been established across England.
	The names and locations of the panels are listed by our delivery partner's website:
	http://www.cdf.org.uk/content/funding-programmes/community-first/neighbourhood-matched-fund

Crime: North East

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how many cases of drug offences were reported in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many cases of domestic burglary were reported in (a) South Tyneside, (b) the North East and (c) the UK in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated January 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking for the numbers of reported cases of domestic burglary and drug offences in (a) Jarrow constituency; (b) South Tyneside; (c) the North East; and (d) the UK in each of the last five years. (135953 and 135962)
	Police recorded crime figures are provided for the last five financial years (April to March) for South Tyneside local authority area; the North East region; and England and Wales. Crime data are not available at parliamentary constituency level.
	
		
			  2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 South Tyneside local authority      
			 Burglary in a dwelling 489 424 306 235 255 
			 Drug offences 680 648 520 672 800 
			       
			 North East region      
			 Burglary in a dwelling 10,881 10,408 8,597 7,818 7,646 
			 Drug offences 8,195 9,129 9,188 9,065 9,069 
		
	
	
		
			       
			 England and Wales      
			 Burglary in a dwelling 280,696 284,431 268,606 258,165 245,314 
			 Drug offences 229,913 243,536 235,584 232,922 229,102 
		
	
	These data have been published by the ONS and have been extracted from the 'Recorded crime data at local authority level from 2002/03', 'Recorded crime data at police force area level from 2002/03' and 'Crime Statistics: Appendix tables - Crime in England and Wales' files, available here:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-274949
	The crime statistics data published by the ONS cover England and Wales only. Crime data for Scotland are published at:
	http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice
	and data for Northern Ireland are published at:
	http://www.psni.police.uk/index/updates/updates statistics/update_crime_statistics.htm

Employment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many and what proportion of people were employed in the (a) private sector and (b) public sector in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last 15 years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated January 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many and what proportion of people were employed in the (a) private sector and (b) public sector in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last 15 years. (136344)
	Public and private sector employment statistics for local areas can be calculated from the Annual Population Survey (APS). Individuals in the APS are classified to the public or private sector according to their responses to the survey.
	The tables show the number and percentage of people who were employed in the public or private sector, according to interviews held during the period October 2011 to September 2012, the latest period available, and the 12 month periods ending in December from 2004 to 2011. Estimates for current parliamentary constituencies are not available for periods prior to 2004. Estimates for parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland are not available. As the information requested is quite extensive, a copy has been placed in the House of Commons Library.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in Tables 1 and 2.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

EU Law

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  which regulations his Department introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which regulations his Department expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector;
	(2)  which EU directives his Department transposed in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which EU directives his Department expects to transpose in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such directive to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Francis Maude: My Department is leading negotiations for the UK in the EU Competitiveness Council on proposals for revising the EU directives relating to procurement by public bodies and utilities. These have not been adopted yet but should simplify the existing procurement regime and, as such, should reduce costs for purchasers and suppliers alike.
	The Cabinet Office is also leading negotiations for the UK on proposals for a new EU directive on the procurement of “concessions” contracts. While the total economic costs to public purchasers and suppliers of this new directive are estimated to be up to £17 million including one-off costs of circa £0.5 million, the potential benefits to the UK economy have been estimated as over £27 million.

Meetings

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have attended since 4 September 2012.

Francis Maude: As part of my Department's transparency programme, details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-external-organisations
	Cabinet Office Ministers also regularly meet with ministerial colleagues and officials. In line with previous Administrations, the Government do not normally disclose details of internal meetings.

Official Hospitality

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department spent on refreshments from July to December 2012.

Francis Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) on 8 November 2012, Official Report, column 719W.

Permanent Secretaries

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office who was on the appointment panel which recommended the appointment of David Kennedy as Permanent Secretary for the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

Francis Maude: The appointment panel for Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) competition advertised in July 2012 consisted of Sir David Normington, Chair of the panel and First Civil Service Commissioner; Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the Civil Service; Paul Walsh, Lead Non-Executive Director for DECC and CEO of Diageo Plc; Professor Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Chair and Director, LSE; and Bronwyn Hill, permanent secretary at DEFRA.

Permanent Secretaries

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office who is on the panel to decide on the appointment of the new Permanent Secretary to the Home Office.

Francis Maude: The appointment panel for the Home Office competition consists of Sir David Normington, Chair of the panel and First Civil Service Commissioner; Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the Civil Service; Val Gooding, Lead Non-Executive Director at the Home Office; and Sir Denis O'Connor, the former HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

Permanent Secretaries

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many current Permanent Secretaries of Government departments are Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic.

Francis Maude: None of the current permanent secretaries have declared that they are of Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic origin.

Redundancy Pay

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the total amount of redundancy pay paid out to civil servants in his Department has been in each month since July 2012.

Francis Maude: In 2010, this Government took decisive action to reform the Civil Service Compensation scheme. As a result significant savings to the taxpayer have been realised. Where compensation payments have been made, Departments estimated that these costs would be recouped within a year.
	Audited information on redundancies and other paid departures in the Cabinet Office are published each year in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts. Recent copies of the Annual Report and Accounts are available on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/cabinet-office-annual-reports-and-accounts
	Audited figures for the year 2012-13 will not be available until the next Annual Report and Accounts that will be published later this year.